#anxiety physically messes with your energy levels and adrenaline responses

[storm-of-feathers]

im so tired of people acting like anxiety and depression are "basic" or "mild" mental illnesses.

#like i have both as well as all my other bs #and they can fuck you up so. so bad #anxiety physically messes with your energy levels and adrenaline responses #and depression kills people. often. #disclaimer in case ppl wanna argue: i also have whats considered very severe mental illnesses. such as bpd.

[akitokihojo]

Monster - Chapter 4

Hang onto your butts... This one's on the longer side!

chapter index

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“Who?”

“Sango.” Kagome answered as steadily as possible.

“Who are they?” Inuyasha was intentionally bouncing questions off of her quickly to see how she’d answer, to see how her body language would respond. Would she flinch? Twitch? Shift her eyes to the left, or waver in any way, shape, or form?

“M-my friend.”

There. Sure, the stammer could be written off as her anxiety, but she didn’t elaborate when it was clear that this was the opportunity to do so.

“Why are you looking for them?” He reached anyway.

Kagome cursed herself. She was a quick-thinker, but her mind felt so muddled. She was still uneasy, uncomfortable, and frightened, and it impeded any ability she had to cover her own ass. She was usually a good liar, but she was in the most unfair disposition of all right now.

She gnawed her bottom lip, playing it off as she thought up something. “She went out a few days ago and hasn’t returned yet.”

“And, they sent you to look for her?”

“I left on my own.”

Inuyasha sighed out through his nose, the breath clenched in his throat and sounding almost like the breaking waters of the sea in his own ears. He shut his eyes, tilting his head and resting his cheek on the arm he used to hold the girl’s hands above her head. He gave himself a moment before continuing on, glancing back down at her with patient eyes.

“Tell me the truth. What are you really doing out here?” He demanded, and he watched her face flush instantaneously.

He’d seen right through her the whole time. What else could she have said? The truth was out of the question, so she didn’t know what else to give him in response. Decidedly, Kagome kept her mouth shut.

Her fearful expression was pressing, brown eyes unintentionally guilting him. Why wouldn’t she just tell him? “Are you in danger?”

Still, she didn’t speak.

“Come on, kid, you gotta give me something to work with. Are you on the run?”

“No.” Kagome shook her head.

“Are you in danger?” He asked again.

“No.” She said.

Both truths.

“Do you live nearby?”

She hesitated that time, but chose to answer in the end. “No. Not really.”

“So, what are you doing out here?”

Kagome bit her bottom lip out of habit, trying to steady herself. “I really am looking for someone.”

Inuyasha gave a dry chuckle. “But, you’re not gonna tell me who.”

She didn’t respond, eyes falling to his chest.

“Gonna stick with the Sango story?”

Kagome could only nod.

“Alright.” Inuyasha accepted. He occupied his freehand, removing his sword in its sheath from the loop in his belt and dropping them to the leaf-covered earth. He moved to unlatch the buckle in the center, pushing the free end of the worn leather through the metal bracket.

“What are you doing?” Kagome asked, her nerves suddenly spiking again. She pushed herself further against the tree to shy away from him as much as she could.

“Hey, calm down. It’s not what you think.” He immediately stated, trying to fend off her discomfort. “I didn’t bring rope along with me, so this is gonna have to do until we can get back to my things.”

“Rope for what?”

“What do you think?”

“I told you there’s no bounty.” Kagome argued. “What do want with me?”

“Listen, I don’t know what’s going on, but bounty or not, you’re still acting suspicious. It’s usually a good idea to keep people like you close in case anything arises.”

“Like what?”

“Answers, first of all. Look, until I find out if money will eventually be offered for you, someone is looking for you, or if something’s wrong and you’re involved, you’re sticking with me.” He said with a sense of finality, pulling his undone belt from the loops in his pants.

“But, none of those things are the case.” Kagome said, more defeated than she’d ever sounded before. She granted him an indignant stare. “You’re wasting your time.”

Inuyasha lowered her hands in front of her, pleased that she wasn’t struggling. Her wrists were small, so it was very easy to keep them secure with just one of his palms, and he began wrapping the leather around them, fastening it tightly so she wouldn’t be able to pull her hands right out.

“I’ve got a gut feeling that I’m really not.” He shrugged his brows, giving a little tug on the belt to make sure it wasn’t too loose. “Can you still feel your fingers?”

“For now.” She replied impassively. Kagome sighed out, her shoulders dropping. As of right now, she had zero energy remaining in her to fight. She’d expended everything she had the day before, with Hiten, and then now while she attempted to escape this guy. The few hours of sleep she’d stolen were barely doing a thing for her at this point, and as her adrenaline levels trickled away, she could feel just how fatigued she truly was. This was just too much commotion in the span of twenty-four hours. So, she reluctantly gave in to her savior-turned-captor.

Honestly, with his tone having relaxed and the way he now handled her, she didn’t feel the danger she did just moments ago. And, that was more dangerous than anything. She should feel scared in this sort of situation, she should be nervous, she should be trying to get away and fight him off. Now would have been a good time to use her spiritual powers, and yet she felt it was the wrong thing to do. He was taking her captive, and she felt wrong for thinking to use her powers on him. Her exhaustion had to be getting to her more than she’d thought. He said he wasn’t going to hurt her a moment ago, and she legitimately believed him.

What sort of mess was she in for?

Inuyasha leaned down and grabbed his sword from the ground, his other hand busy holding the belt between her forearms. He gave a small pull and they were on their way, which thanks to her, was going to take much longer. Not only was he going to have to actually walk, because he wasn’t about to carry the girl all the way back to his destination and he didn’t think she could manage running several miles right now - or even a fast-paced walk at that, but they were also significantly off course. It wasn’t entirely her fault, given he’d had to pursue Hiten for quite a ways before she’d shown up, but once she took off like a bat out of hell, the trek back became even worse. His bet: they’d be in the area just before the sun set.

The girl hadn’t said a word. She kept up fairly well, didn’t give him any reason to yank her wrists so she’d go a little faster, didn’t struggle, didn’t do much of anything, really. A couple times when he’d stolen a glance back at her, she was observing the scenery, eyes half-lidded. There were a few occurrences where she’d lost her footing and slid down hills and he’d had to catch her. He didn’t criticize her. It would have been natural for him to criticize her, but something inside told him she wouldn’t be able to bite back right now. Though, when she’d apologized for her stumbling, even her whispers were barely coherent. From that point on, down any slope or hill they traveled over, he moved slowly, stabilized her properly, and supported her the whole way down.

Finally, he could see the area he’d accidentally dropped his shit in. Hiten was quick, and his bag wasn’t worth grabbing in the heat of the moment. Luckily, no one had wandered through the woods and snagged it. Even more luckily, they weren’t all that far from the family who’d initially offered him the lump sum. They were close to stopping for the night.

Inuyasha dropped his sword to the ground before turning and undoing the leather from around her wrists, allowing her a minute to shake her hands and rub out the indentations they’d left behind. Then, he gestured for her to get on her knees beside him, moving with her so she didn’t get uncomfortable with him still standing. He could understand how that could be misperceived, and he wasn’t about that whatsoever.

“I want your hand on me. Anywhere.” He said while he kneeled. The girl went ahead and rested on her butt for the moment, legs crossed in front of her. At her suspicious side-eye, he went ahead and elaborated, swallowing his chuckle at her silent judgement. “I don’t want you running off while I’m distracted. Come on, just hold my clothes or something.”

Kagome sighed, reaching over and slipping her fingers into his closest, available pocket just as he turned to rummage through his bag of belongings. If he’d been paying attention by now, he’d have been well aware that she didn’t have it in her to challenge him to a race again. Therefore, the physical contact was completely unnecessary. Kagome wasn’t going anywhere, but alternatively she didn’t have the energy to argue either.

Inuyasha couldn’t fight the humored grin that grew on his lips, and as he pulled the rope out of the pouch of his bag, he shifted around to look at the girl. ��I like how you went for my back pocket.”

Realizing where her fingers were, Kagome hastily pulled her hand free, opting to grab onto the top hem of his pants, instead. There was no hiding her embarrassment but she tried anyway, turning her head off to the side to stare at the warm glow cast through the treetops, accenting the forest beautifully with golds, oranges, and pinks that were only granted for an hour or so throughout the day. His laughter made her cheeks burn hotter. She could literally feel the maddening blush on the bridge of her nose and just beneath her eyes, and she wished he’d just let it go without teasing her. She hadn’t been paying attention when she’d reached over. She hadn’t noticed she was touching his butt, and it was most definitely innocent and not meant inappropriately.

“It’s fine,” He rasped between chuckles, reaching for her wrist at the back of his hip. He shifted around to face her, enjoying her humility far too much. “Little pervert.”

“Stop it.” She whispered, scrunching her nose. He liked it.

“What? All you had to do was ask.” Inuyasha pestered, gesturing for her other hand.

“You’re a jerk.” Kagome huffed.

“I know, I know.” He smirked, shrugging his brows carelessly as he began constructing a knot around her wrists. As per usual, he tied it tight, making sure there was no room for error. Women, in general, had small hands and wrists and could weasel their way out of snares, so he was naturally inclined to avoid those mistakes. Her wince had him inadvertently pausing, glancing up to make sure she was alright and then loosening the reins a tad. For some reason, for some odd and interesting reason, he didn’t want to treat her like she was as disposable as the other people he sought out. There was no reason to. Her description wasn’t on any lists that he’d seen, and he knew, he just knew, she was mixed up in something else. Something bigger that she wasn’t yet willing to talk about. Yes, she was in his captivity. Yes, he would hand her over if someone was looking. But, the bruise around her throat had him feeling she didn’t deserve any sort of abrasive treatment at the moment. No matter how much attitude she’d presented to him a while ago.

“Too tight?” Inuyasha asked as he finished off the knot, leaving a long tail so that he could keep her close without having to hold her wrists anymore.

“What do you care?” She quietly sassed.

“Would you rather I didn’t?” He countered.

“It’s fine.” Kagome finally answered, giving her fingers a faint wiggle to make sure blood was still flowing to them.

Inuyasha nodded in a that’s-what-I-thought fashion, sticking the tail of rope beneath his boot to keep her next to him. He threaded the belt back through the loops in his trousers, then pulled a canteen of water from his bag. Removing the cap, and without a second thought, he handed it to the girl, making sure she had a proper grip on it between her closely-tied hands before releasing it completely. There was more than enough slack in the rope for her to be able to lift the bottle to her lips, and she took a quick sip, aiming to hand it back immediately after.

“Drink it.”

“What about you?”

“Don’t need it. Not as much as you. Don’t want you keeling over on me.” He said, waiting for her to raise it back to her mouth. When there was hesitation, he continued. “I’m serious, kid. Drink it. I know you’re thirsty.”

Kagome started drinking full gulps, the tepid water still soothing to her dry, irritated throat. She slowed down so she wouldn’t upset her stomach, ignoring the fact that the demon was eyeing her. She’d noticed it several times their entire trip there, and not once could she grasp why he studied her. Again, she just didn’t have the energy to ask. She also didn’t want to give him attention if that was what he was seeking, so she actively pretended she never noticed it.

“Better?” He asked, holding his hand out for the empty bottle. The girl nodded, giving it back and rubbing her lips together to spread the moisture from the water over them. He capped the canteen, tossing it back in his bag and shutting it. “What’s your name?”

Her brown eyes held steady on his for a moment, searching for something, maybe even thinking of a reason as to why she should answer him.

“What’s yours?” She asked in return.

“Inuyasha.”

“That’s right,” She nodded slowly. “I remember Hiten saying that now.”

There was another beat of silence, and Inuyasha had to give himself a mental clap on the back. Patience had never been his virtue, and though he wanted to grind his teeth every time he had to wait for an answer, he was still holding composure well.

“My name’s Kagome.”

“Alright, Kagome,” He spoke, throwing the straps of his bag over his shoulders. He stood, putting Tessaiga back in its rightful place on his hip and then stepped off of the rope, reaching down to grab her by the arms and help her stand faster than he was sure she would have on her own. “Let’s get going.”

“Where, exactly, are we going?”

“I’ve got some people I need to talk to. They’re less than a mile or so from here. Then, we’ll be finding a good place to set up for the night.”

She didn’t say anything thereafter, simply accepting his answer and following him along. He held onto the rope, and she continued to keep up well enough so there was slack. The last thing she wanted was to be yanked forward if she’d drifted behind a bit, and she really wouldn’t put it passed him to do so. Kagome could only imagine it would make her feel like a dog on a leash.

The thought had her attention shooting toward the top of his head. His pointed ears matched the shade of his hair, triangular in shape, sometimes swiveling to catch sounds in the woodlands. She was intrigued by them, watching them for several paces. She’d met a couple of humanoid demons before, aside from Naraku’s goons, but none of them quite held the physical characteristics Inuyasha did.

“Cat or dog?” The question had slipped off her tongue before she’d caught it, and even though she’d never much intended to ask, feeling like she was intruding on personal information, it also felt harmless. And, if he declined to answer, it wasn’t going to hurt her feelings.

Inuyasha glanced at Kagome from over his shoulder, brows furrowed in curiosity. The question came out of left field, and he couldn’t help but be surprised that she was feeling a little talkative now. Truthfully, he was enjoying the silence, but so long as she didn’t yap his ears off, then he was fine.

Ears. It was his ears. She was asking because of his ears.

“What’s your guess?” He queried, his tone low and casual.

Kagome made a small sound as she pondered, not immediately answering. “Cat?”

Inuyasha’s ears twitched in offense, and his lips curled in repulsion. “What?”

“Am I wrong?” She inquired innocently. “I only thought it made sense since you’re kind of feisty like a cat, too.”

Abruptly, he stopped walking. The statement stung his pride, and he couldn’t blame anybody but himself for that one. He should have just answered. Always tell them, never let them guess. Rookie mistake. Inuyasha scrunched his nose, looking back at the girl and shaking his head.

“Oh. So, dog?” Her tone still held soft.

He merely nodded in reply, his lips pressed into a thin line.

“Sorry.” Kagome whispered.

“I’m half.” Inuyasha said, after a long moment of silence, clearing his throat. They’d continued walking, and he could smell the scents of the small, homely town ahead. Dinners were being made, people were beginning to head indoors, and he didn’t sense an ounce of chaos. Meaning, Naraku’s men had chosen a good day to fuck off.

“Half?”

“You’re wondering why I’ve got dog ears, right?” He guessed. “It’s because I’m a half demon, or hanyou, so some of my features are mixed.”

It made sense now why his demonic aura wasn’t as pronounced as Hiten’s when she’d first seen him. He only had half the power. Frankly, it didn’t completely add up to her. She didn’t sense an even division. His demonic blood was there, and it demanded acknowledgment, it just wasn’t as prominent as any other demon’s she’d encountered. If he’d said he wasn’t completely demon, she’d have believed him just as well, but she was honestly surprised, with the energy she felt radiating from him, that he was only half. Whomever his bloodline originated with must have been incredibly formidable.

What had the majority of Kagome’s interest was how he so openly admitted to who or what he was. Conjurers weren’t the only ones being wiped out of existence. So were hanyou. Half demon’s had actually been ostracized since before Naraku showed face, Naraku just upped the ante. Some humans reproachably saw them as tainted, vile creatures. They looked at demons as a breed one should never mate with, and if a baby was born between the two species, it was hated from the moment of conception. The same was said about demons. To mate with a human was taboo and nearly unheard of. Demons spoke of hanyou as if they were disgusting, unworthy, and offensive to their kind. Demons refused to claim half-breeds as one of their own, and humans did the same. The only people half demons could rely on were their families.

Kagome had met one when she was around fifteen. She, Miroku, and Sango were out being reckless, their typical M.O., and Miroku had scraped his leg up pretty bad near the outskirts of a nearby village. Jinenji was the sweetest person she’d ever met. He didn’t laugh, didn’t criticize, hardly said a word, and blushed if either of the girls made eye contact with him. His mother, on the other hand, was slightly frightening, but Kagome supposed that’s where their family dynamic found balance. Her son was large, apparently malformed, and to a closed-minded person, terrifying. So, the rest of the village judged him harshly and outcasted him, never treated him fairly, and were even cruel and violent at times. Jinenji was timid and gentle. He was educated in herbal remedies, making medicines, and could even dish out basic horticulture. He was helpful, good, strong, and kind. He was a living, breathing being. Jinenji had a beating heart, a brain, and blood running through his veins just like everyone else. He deserved the same respect humans and demons expected.

It was there that Kagome had first learned of a half demon’s mistreatment. Jinenji’s mother explained how difficult it was for him growing up, how some half demons come out “pretty,” while others not so much. She explained the unjustified wrath their mere existence created, and the three teenagers felt sick to their stomachs hearing such a thing. Never could Kagome understand anyone’s logic for condemning someone or something just for living.

So, she couldn’t imagine Inuyasha’s past or the amount of trials he’s experienced. That’s why she wondered how he seemed so okay telling her he was of mixed blood. Maybe he didn’t care because he was strong and could fend for himself, so he wasn’t worried about others knowing who he was. Maybe it was because his traits were visible, and even obvious to other demons since they could easily tell a half-breed from a full blood, and he’d potentially be outed either way if they ran into one. Had he had it hard? Had he ever run into Naraku’s men? If so, had they ever succeeded in doing something horrible to him? Attempted to kill him? Kagome blinked the thoughts away, shying her gaze to the earth as they walked. She didn’t want to feel sympathy for her captor.

“I’m only gonna be a minute.” Inuyasha started as he unsuspectingly stopped directly in front of a slim tree. “If you need anything, just call for me. I’ll hear you.”

“Wait, what?” Kagome questioned. He’d started wrapping the slack of her rope around the tree trunk, fastening her to stand close to it and knotting the rope in a fashion that she wouldn’t be able to reach. She looked around, only seeing woodland, and she wondered just where the hell Inuyasha was about to head off to.

“Trust me.” He dismissed.

“You honestly expect me to trust you? After all this?” She grimaced.

“Or not.” He chuckled, shrugging dismissively. “Just don’t scream. It’ll be more annoying than anything.”

Kagome groaned, her head dropping back. “Where are you going?”

“I told you, I need to talk to someone. I’ll be back.”

“It’ll be dark soon.”

“I’ll be right back.” He repeated more firmly. When she only stared at him through furrowed brows, he took his leave, confident that he would be near enough to hear her in case she needed help. She could be grumpy all she wanted, it didn’t matter to him.

He approached the yard carefully, smelling each occupant of the home from outside, their freshly baked bread, cooking meat, and recently-burned incense. This was usually his favorite part of a job, but at this point, it was just a courtesy. He didn’t know if this would be comforting for anyone, really.

“Inuyasha.” He’d heard the voice from his right and spotted a young girl that was no more than fourteen donned in a blue dress. The remaining daughter of the household. He’d made light of her older sister’s death earlier in the day, sure, but that was never something he’d do to the family’s face. He understood that this was difficult and painful for them all, and he wouldn’t disrespect someone who felt so distraught that they were willing to pay for the revenge of their daughter’s murder. The girl perked up a little taller when he looked at her, running over his way with more brightness than he’d expected, her long, brown hair bouncing over her shoulders. “Inuyasha’s back!”

From inside, he could hear her family stumbling to race out, her father appearing first, then the mother who looked so incredibly exhausted that he was surprised her legs cooperated with her to jog over.

“Did you - did you find him? Or are you still looking?” The father asked, and his eyes weren’t subtle as they looked around for evidence of Hiten’s demise.

Kagome had rested her head against the tree, her eyes closed, the bark sort of smooth, pleasant, and cool to the touch. It made sense that he had to leave her. Couldn’t very well walk around with a hostage like it was a casual occurrence. Did it make it acceptable? Absolutely not. She was substantially more vulnerable than any reasonable person would prefer to be. Tied up, drained of all energy, and alone; she was doomed if anyone stumbled upon her.

Not too far off, Kagome could hear a girl shout happily, and she swore she’d heard Inuyasha’s name, bringing her ears to hone in and focus. Inuyasha was really that close? For some reason, despite what he’d said, she’d expected him to be further off, carelessly leaving her to fend for herself. When he said to trust him, he was giving her legitimate reason to trust. What was with this guy? He was so hot and cold, Kagome wasn’t sure how to read him.

A man spoke next, bringing Kagome back to the present, his tone excited but deep with worry. Did he find him? Who?

“Look, before I say anything, I want you to know that I don’t need nor expect anything in return. I’m just here to let you know that the job is done. Hiten’s gone, but take the money off the table.”

“Wh-what happened?” The mother breathed.

“What do you mean?” Her husband followed.

“Just what it sounds like.” Inuyasha replied.

“He’s gone, or he’s dead?”

“Both, but ultimately, he’s dead.”

“Then, where is he?”

“Unfortunately, things got a little out of hand. I had no choice but to use a powerful attack, which in turn, destroyed his body. There’s nothing left of him.” Inuyasha said.

Right. There was a bounty over Hiten’s head; Kagome remembered the whole reason their little argument had sparked, which was what got her here in the first place. It was a family who’d hired him, though? She couldn’t help but wonder what Hiten had done to make them send Inuyasha after him to begin with.

“Are you sure?” A woman asked, her voice wavering with obvious sadness.

“I swear.”

“How are we supposed to believe you without a body, Inuyasha?” A man spoke harshly. The same man as before. “What if you failed, you’re just backing out because he’s stronger than you, and the moment our guard is down is the moment Hiten will come back for my other daughter?”

“He won’t.” Inuyasha responded, his tone direct and deep.

So, Hiten had killed one of his daughters. That malicious, heartless, stone cold creep. Kagome almost hoped Inuyasha would tell them he had a witness. If he came back and grabbed her, she’d testify for him. He did kill Hiten. He carried out his mission, and the only reason he didn’t have proof to calm this family’s upset was because of her. She’d tell them that, too. He didn’t deserve this heat.

“I guarantee you Hiten is dead and won’t be coming back for anyone else.”

“How are we supposed to believe you?” The man asked again, this time more emphatically.

“You don’t have to. I understand your position, but like I said, I don’t expect the money. I failed to bring back his body, but I made sure to take care of the problem no matter what. You’ll see in due time that Hiten can’t take anything more from your family.”

“And, if he does come back, it’ll be too late to -“

“Honey, stop.” The woman spoke gently. Kagome felt horrible. Awful. Inuyasha had made it seem like he was entirely in it for the money; he’d never told her there were people actually depending on him on the other end of it all.

“Papa, he’s gotta be telling the truth.” A younger girl spoke. The first voice Kagome had heard. “He doesn’t want the payment you’d offered. Think about it, if he was backing out because he wasn’t strong enough - like you said, why would he even bother coming to see us when he could just be on his way?”

“There’s no way I’m weaker than that scrawny bastard.” Inuyasha murmured under his breath, rolling his eyes.

Finally, there was someone sensible, and Kagome breathed a small sigh of relief.

“Look,” Came Inuyasha’s voice, and even Kagome could tell he was leaning on the fed up side. “Hiten’s dead, the job’s taken care of, you got your revenge, your daughter can rest in peace or whatever you guys say nowadays, and I’m leaving.”

“Wait,” The mother spoke, and the hanyou halted mid-turn, his head dropping to his shoulder impatiently. “I believe you. W-we believe you. Please forgive my husband, this is just hard for us all. Take the money.”

“I don’t want your money.”

“We insist.” Her husband spoke, and even though there was clear reluctance in his body language, there was authenticity in his statement. “If you vouch that he’s gone for good, there’s no reason not to believe you. You deserve the payment.”

“Keep it.” Inuyasha said. It was better for them, anyway. Maybe they didn’t know the exact way their daughter died considering he found out through Hiten, himself, and if that was the case, they were better off. Nonetheless, he was aware. It was a sick way to go. Even if he brought back the thunder demon’s body for them as promised, there was a good chance he would have declined payment anyway.

“Okay, then please stay the night. It’s getting late. The least we can provide is a roof over your head and a nice meal as thanks.” The woman offered.

“I appreciate it, but I can’t stay. I’ve got someone waiting for me.”

“A girl?” The young one said almost too elatedly. She must have been the type to always have her nose in romance novels.

“Something like that.” Inuyasha deliberated, bobbing his head to the side.

Kagome huffed, grimacing. That punk.

“Oh, how sweet!”

“If she only knew.” Kagome sighed.

“Well, then I insist you take some food with you! For dinner!” The woman pressed, and it seemed like her spirits had lifted minutely.

“That, I will take.” Inuyasha accepted, giving an appreciative nod.

It was another few minutes before Kagome heard Inuyasha’s footsteps approaching, and she watched the direction he was coming in. The sunset was no longer visible throughout the woodlands, a haze of blues beginning to trickle through as dusk invited itself forward. The air was beginning to get nippier, and she was worried, depending on how much further he wanted to go until he called it a night, that it would be pitch black before they stopped.

Inuyasha’s amber eyes met hers for a moment until he got close, his clawed fingers going straight for the knot he’d fastened.

“You okay?” He asked.

“Mhm.” Kagome hummed, giving a small nod.

“I didn’t hear anything, so I’m guessing no surprises popped out at you.”

She hummed a decline that time, the shake of her head minor. The knot came free, and he allowed the tail of the rope to drop from the trunk of the tree, not immediately snagging it until she took a few steps back, and even then, he was relaxed with his grip. It was like he was testing her. That’s the only explanation that could make sense. Either that, or he was really bad at taking victims alive. The killing part, he seemed to have down. Was he waiting to see if she’d jerk away and make a run for it? Maybe giving chase would be fun for him; he was a dog. Maybe he was seeing if she’d take a mile if he gave an inch. She didn’t much see the point of it. Additionally, he didn’t bother putting anything in or over her mouth before. She could have screamed. He and the family were so close, all she needed to do was scream and his cover would have been blown. Hero facade in the mud. But, she didn’t.

She didn’t.

She didn’t?

Why the hell hadn’t she screamed? Sure, it would have been hoarse as all hell, maybe even muted when her voice gave out, but other people would have been alerted to her situation. She would have had a chance to get away. Why didn’t she scream? He’d even told her not to - literally brought up the idea to her - and still, she didn’t think about doing so afterward. Kagome couldn’t help but worry about her survival instincts that had apparently washed down the drain sometime between this afternoon and now.

Or, maybe it was her survival instincts at play that had prevented her from making a noise. He’d warned her not to. He could have gotten violent if she’d disobeyed him. Maybe even killed the family for finding out his secret.

No. She knew next to nothing about this guy, but she could tell he wasn’t evil. It was in her blood to sense evil, and he wasn’t that. There was something warm about him. Something she’d noticed immediately. Something she’d picked up before he’d even appeared to help her. Something she didn’t like to admit he harbored. He had rough people skills, that’s for sure, but there wasn’t a wretched trait about his aura.

“We’ll just go a little further. I don’t like being close to towns at night.”

“Why not?” She inquired, swallowing her mistakes and trying to forget them.

“Naraku’s bitches.” Inuyasha answered. “It’s one thing if you’re staying in an inn, but if they smell you right outside the village, they like to try and sneak up on you.”

“I take it, you have experience with this?”

“Yeah. Consider yourself lucky you don’t.”

They walked for about thirty minutes, and Inuyasha had to carefully guide the girl, keeping her close as they crept through trees, nowhere near a trail. The way he preferred it. He didn’t smell anything that didn’t seem to belong in the air, no demons were around, and it was quiet as the night settled in. He had decided on a cozy, little spot, not too far off from a rushing water source.

“Here. Sit.” He said, tying her slack to a slim, dying tree beside her. “Give me five minutes to grab some wood for a fire.”

Kagome didn’t respond before he walked off, unable to see him after a certain point but still listening for his footsteps to drift away. Even after she could no longer hear anything but the chirping crickets, she waited, gently chewing on the plush of her bottom lip while she gave ample timing as cushion. As soon as Kagome felt it was sufficient enough, she quickly dove her fingers into the side of her boot, maneuvering around awkwardly as she finagled the small, hidden dagger out. Inuyasha had left just enough slack in the rope between her wrists and the tree that if she lifted her calf a bit, twisting at her hips, she could reach what she was looking for.

Survival instincts back in action!

The positioning of her knife was weird as she aimed to cut the tail of her rope away, but just as the sharp blade touched the underside of it to start slicing upward, Kagome stopped. Why did she stop? There was a cold sensation budding in her abdomen as she pictured herself running away. Was she afraid? It wasn’t like he could use his weapon on her. Last she saw, it wasn’t much of a weapon anymore. That isn’t to say there wasn’t some sort of otherworldly malfunction and it’s back to supersized mode - he hadn’t said a thing about it since, so there was no way of knowing.

The thing was, as she sat there frozen, prepped to start breaking her ties, there were no intrusive thoughts like before when she went to leave home. They were all her own; confused, jumbled, messy, and scattered. She didn’t know which way was up in her head. Why wasn’t she freeing herself yet?

Kagome twisted her face in frustration, mentally fighting with herself. She didn’t have time for this. If she was going to run for it, she needed to do it now. Now. Do it now! Why wasn’t she doing it!? That cold feeling had spread throughout her entire torso, encroaching on her heart. She was afraid, but it was of herself. What the hell was wrong with her? She had an objective, and she wasn’t going to get anything done tied up and dragged around by this dog demon.

As long as she was bound by rope, she was in danger. So, why didn’t she feel like she was in danger? The battle with herself ran so deep, Kagome felt so conflicted, aggravated, that she squeezed the handle of her dagger with excessive force until a sharp pain pierced the injury on her left palm, almost bringing her to drop her knife out of reaction. Her gasp was shuddered, and she crinkled her nose as she hissed in an attempt to will the sudden pain away. It was just another thing she didn’t have time for.

Why would she willingly stay a victim when she had an opening to save herself? Why would Kagome accept captivity? More ambiguously, what in her right mind made her want to trust Inuyasha? He was out for money. For all she knew, he would sell her off to the first person who offered him a coin. Just because he’d saved her life before, didn’t mean he was permanently on her side - the restraints were proof of that. Just because he said he wouldn’t hurt her, didn’t mean he meant it forever. It could have been an in-the-moment sort of thing, and she should know better than this. He pulled out his sword against her. The message behind it was loud and clear. His intentions meant harm. Like she said before, the guy was hot and cold. He went from arrogant teasing one moment to threatening her well-being the next, all over an insult. She should be heeding his unstable temperament, and she should feel evil in his aura.

But, she didn’t. And, that was what kept her ass on the ground. How stupid. How utterly and unforgivably stupid of her. Despite everything, she really did believe he wasn’t going to hurt her. Oh god, Kagome couldn’t take this anymore. Never in her life had she been this mad at herself, the intensity only growing bolder as she gave up and slid the knife back into her boot.

Kagome crumbled, almost wanting to cry from the frustration she felt, overwhelming and subduing the cold that had attempted to control her core, and she dropped her face into her hands. From this point on, if she got hurt, it was her own damn fault. If he sold her, that was her fault too. It turns out, as troubling and trivial as it was, she really just wanted to see where things led. No one said she was the smartest risk taker, even she was aware of the hazards of her own curiosity. If things got worse, perilous, she had the knife. She could make a run for it at any moment, and she forced herself to believe that it was a comfort.

“I’m gonna be fine,” Kagome breathed to herself, pleading her mind to rest. “I’m gonna be fine. Everything’s gonna be okay.”

“Hey,” The gruff voice was directly and unsuspectingly above her, and it startled Kagome. Inadvertently, still high strung from upsetting her own nerves, she shot to sit up straight. She hadn’t realized Inuyasha was standing so close, hadn’t realized he was leaned over her, and the back of her head harshly collided with the front of his, bringing the hanyou to his knees as she instantly jolted to clutch her sore spot. The ties made it impossible to reach, but the pain had brought her to curl back up anyway, folding beneath her forearms, her breath caught in her throat.

“What the fuck,” Inuyasha groaned, holding his palm to his forehead. “Why would you do that!?”

“I’m sorry! You scared me!” Kagome whined, her head throbbing. “God, is your skull made out of rock or something!?”

“I could say the same fucking thing to you!”

“When did you even get back?” She asked, finally beginning to unfurl from her ball. “Make a noise or something.

“I did! You were just too busy having a breakdown to notice!” He argued.

“I was not having a breakdown.” Kagome proclaimed, shooting him a glare.

Inuyasha’s mouth was opened to respond something snarky, but he froze. Again, his nose was offended by the smell of salt. The moonlight shining through the trees hit her skin perfectly, accentuating her fair color with cool hues. The skin beneath her eyes was wet, and tears were gliding down her cheeks.

“You’re… crying.” He mentioned, appearing more confused than anything. He was literally gone for no more than five minutes - seven minutes at the most since he filled up his canteen at the river. So, what the hell had happened? She was fine when he’d left her. If there was one thing he didn’t know how to handle more than women, it was their emotions, and he was about ready to pretend he didn’t see a damn thing.

“Yeah, I just got hurt! Of course, I’m crying!” Kagome stated matter-of-factly, playing it off well. In her own defense, she was on the brink of tears before he showed up. His skull just pushed her over the edge.

Inuyasha grunted, rolling his eyes and giving one final rub to his tender forehead before pushing himself back to a standing. “Big baby.”

“Takes one to know one.” Kagome grumbled, her upper lip curling with attitude.

The half demon rolled his eyes, intentionally ignoring her remark as he went about structuring the wood and kindling he’d collected for the fire. He got some embers sparking pretty quickly, the flames developing and growing, and Inuyasha stabilized it’s rise by adding more wood. He’d shrugged off his bag when he’d gotten back, so he sauntered over to it and pulled out the bottle of water, taking a quick swig before walking over to the girl. This time, he felt he’d done the right thing by pretending not to notice her hastily wiping her tears away with her captured wrists knotted together.

“Thirsty?”

Kagome shook her head, keeping her eyes low.

“Come on.” He groaned.

“No, thank you.” She whispered.

“Fine.” He rasped, shutting the canteen and tossing it on top of his bag as he gave her space. The hanyou took the opportunity to finally, finally, silence the burning question at the back of his mind. It had been pressing him since the moment it had occurred, and took every bit of self control he had - which wasn’t much to begin with - not to figure out the mystery sooner. With chasing the mouthy girl, swallowing his anger and calming her down so she wouldn’t hyperventilate, and then crossing several miles to get back to the family who’d hired him at a decent enough time, he had no fucking choice but to let the question remain unanswered. The sword on his hip quivered now and again throughout the journey, giving him reminders he didn’t need that it had failed him for the first time in forever. They were lucky he wasn’t solely dependent on it as a weapon and was perfectly capable of fending off anyone and anything with his bare hands.

He gave himself plenty of room between he and the pouting girl, facing the trees, the fingers of his right hand doing a slow dance over the hilt of Tessaiga. Interestingly enough, he could still feel the demonic energy soaring off of it, reacting positively to his own touch. Nothing had changed there. Then, he took a firm grasp of the handle, pulling Tessaiga out of its sheath where the demonic power strengthened. What once sat battered and weak, dull, and nonthreatening, was now strong, thick, sharp, and mighty. His abdomen tensed beneath its weight as he supported his body properly, a muddled sensation filling him as he could only wonder what the fuck had happened before. Inuyasha stuck the top portion of his sword into the earth, allowing it to stand on its own while he turned to face Kagome. She was already looking over, wide, brown eyes glued to Tessaiga before shifting over to him.

“What the hell did you do?” The hanyou asked gruffly.

“What?” Was the only response Kagome could muster. She knew exactly what he was referring to, but how in the world was this falling back on her?

“My sword didn’t transform when I pulled it out on you. What did you do?” He asked again.

“Nothing.” She said defensively, brows pinching together. The half demon merely cocked a brow at her, crossing his arms over his chest, and she knew he was waiting for a real answer, but this was as real as it could get. “I didn’t do anything, Inuyasha. I honestly thought your sword was naturally gigantic. I didn’t even know swords could transform. I mean, it’s not everyday you see a letter opener turn into an ogre killer in one swoop.”

“So then, what did you do?”

“Are you not listening?”

“Hard to understand anything you’re saying really.”

“Oh my god, is this the extent of your maturity level? You get a little aggravated and then turn to insults because that’s your first layer of defense mechanisms? The joke’s dead, buddy. My voice is messed up, I look like crap, I’m short, we get it. Now just talk to me like I’m a person, because I’m doing the same with you. I did not do anything to your precious sword.”

She watched him flex his jaw, heard the heated exhale from his nose, but his vibrant, golden eyes stayed attached to her. His arms tensed behind their black sleeves, still crossed but communicating a more obvious upset.

“What could I have possibly done?” Kagome tried again. She honestly had no idea what more she could say to make him believe her. She’d felt it’s powerful energy when first seeing it, but she truly had no understanding that it was a transformative blade. There was no time to figure out those details. It was honestly one scenario to the next, and Kagome was none the wiser to anything but her own end of circumstances.

Inuyasha didn’t say anything, angry, perplexed, and ready to throw another jab her way. He needed answers more than he needed an infuriating argument, though. He had an idea. It was farfetched, but worth a shot. In his mind, Inuyasha pictured a life or death predicament. Quickly, he painted the scene. Men were surrounding them from all sides, and he needed to defend himself and Kagome. When he was a child, his father had told him that this sword, the Tessaiga, was created to protect. It could only be wielded and mastered if you harbored respect for humans, and was specifically granted to Inuyasha upon his father’s death. His dad died when Inuyasha was still young, and he wasn’t old or strong enough to control it - given the damn thing was ironically known as the sword of destruction. Then, when he was capable, the stupid weapon refused to work for him due to his temporary phase of wanting to find a way to become full demon. No one would have been able to say a fucking thing to him if he were one. No one would have been able to lay a finger on him or his mother had he found a way to transform himself. It wasn’t that simple or doable, though, and when he finally came to his senses, realizing he was just as proficient at fighting just as he was, the Tessaiga started revealing what it could do. It took years, but he could confidently say he’d about mastered the blade. And, he knew well that the quickest way to bring life to Tessaiga was the mindset to protect.

So, he imagined the danger vividly, the helpless, damsel in distress that Kagome was hiding behind his back while bandits encroached. With that in his mind, Inuyasha reached for the hilt of his sword, plucking the head of it from the ground as he faced the trees, threatening energy radiating and encircling the blade as it powered up for a wind scar. He waited, allowing the energy to stabilize at a specific level, and when it was there, the heat of the sword’s need to demolish its target slithering up his flexed forearms, Inuyasha branded Kagome as the enemy.

In his mind, she had her bow raised to him. Innocents were dead, lifeless on the floor all around, and she was gleefully covered in their blood, smiling as she pulled the arrow back. His temper was now directed at her, the need for justice was strong as he made it his mission to prevent her from killing anyone ever again. He wasn’t only doing this to protect himself. No, fuck it. He was doing it to protect anyone he could from her.

Inuyasha raised Tessaiga above his head, the lick of his blade’s passion burning at his palms, the skin of his arms beneath his shirt, and he closed his eyes to make sure his vision didn’t falter when he saw her innocently observing him. Adjusting his footing, the hanyou was able to swivel on his heel to face Kagome’s direction, bringing the sword down to about waist level to aim at her, but then he noticed the hot sensations along his flesh were simmering. Quickly. The fire of his sword’s determination was extinguished, the demonic energy evaporating, and the weight of his weapon diminished within a matter of seconds.

Blinking his eyes open, Inuyasha looked at his sword’s original, battered condition. It wasn’t lifeless, though. The entire thing, blade and hilt, were pulsating forcefully. Tessaiga was communicating with him. It was saying, No. It was saying, You can’t use this on her.

“Why the fuck not?” He breathed, almost inaudibly, before glancing up at the girl.

Kagome had been holding her breath, eyes wide and mouth hanging agape from the moment he’d faced her. She couldn’t even begin to think of what to do to save herself, and froze like a deer who’d been spotted eating the vegetables in your garden. Even as the thing wilted away to its sad, powerless form, she couldn’t quite yet grasp herself. Her entire body was tense where she sat, and when her brain started functioning again, the only thing she could bring herself to say, tremblingly as it may have been, was, “I-I didn’t do anything.”

“Relax.” He drawled, sighing deeply before he sheathed Tessaiga. “It was just a test.”

“Please - please - get a new test dummy.” Kagome shuddered, willing her muscles to unclench. There was no comfort in finding out there was no real threat to her life when her life had already flashed before her eyes.

“Turns out, it’s not you.” He grumbled. “It’s the sword.”

“Is it broken?”

“Did it look broken?” He retorted roughly.

Kagome chose not to answer that, pursing her lips and staring down at her hands. Her sassiness had gotten her into too much trouble already, and she felt like now was not the time to take the bait.

“It’s not broken.” Inuyasha quickly snipped, noticing her coy expression. “There’s just something about - no, you know what?” He was done waiting. He wanted answers, and he was going to get them. Why the fuck would Tessaiga specifically say he couldn’t use its power on her? It had never done that before, not to anyone. Not so long as the proper intentions were enforced. He’d pulled it on the wrong people before, and still, it stayed transformed. So, what was so special about this chick?

Inuyasha marched closer, pulling his weapon out by the sheath as he sat down beside the fire and set it at his side, staring at Kagome with fierce eyes. “Who the hell are you?”

“What?” Kagome asked after a moment’s hesitation.

“Who are you?”

“Kagome.” She answered unsurely. His lips had sealed, the orange and red tints from the flames dancing over the skin of his face, neck, and the opening of his chest in his shirt. The light created a hypnotic glow in his irises, accenting his color beautifully, but also aiding his steadfast gaze. “I’m Kagome. I’m eighteen. And, to you, I’m nobody.”

He didn’t like that answer. Nobody didn’t sit right with him. Not after his sword threw its own version of a hissy fit. Still, he felt it was sort of fair that that was all she gave. He wasn’t asking for her life story, and he hadn’t clarified what he was looking for. His eyes swept over her, studying for a moment before he spoke again, this time more mellow, less demanding.

“Alright, talk. What happened?”

He was referencing her marks, and Kagome couldn’t help but feel slightly self conscious like before, brown eyes shifting to the side briefly. “Naraku’s men.” She admitted.

It was like the heat from the fire pushed through the barrier of his skin to twist like a whirlwind within his gut. The expansion of warmth rode though the veins of his torso, up his neck, down his arms. Anytime he heard a damn thing about Naraku, or even the henchmen carrying out his orders, it instantly sent his blood into a boil. He refrained from saying anything, but she’d noticed his expressive shift and he was appreciative that she took that cue to elaborate.

“Their last inspection got a little out of hand. I stepped out of line.”

That’s what she was trying to say earlier. He was too vexed to hear her out, though.

“They’re still looking for those conjurers, huh?” He asked, rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

“Y-yeah.” Kagome nodded, her sight drifting downward. She stared at the ground, watching the glowing shadows bounce and dance along the dirt and sparse grass. Her stomach suddenly wrenched with guilt, with pain. She somehow hadn’t thought of this all day, and now that she was back in the moment, it hurt. It made her feel sick to think about it. It was something that couldn’t be neglected, though. These emotions, feelings, they needed to be felt, because if she pushed them aside until she was numb to them, they would only come back with a vengeance in the most self destructive manner. Kagome swallowed thickly, willing herself to appear composed. She needed to acknowledge these emotions, but she didn’t need to outwardly express them. They were hers to feel, and hers alone. “They - um - they found one. She was a little girl. Nine, I think.”

Inuyasha’s heart dropped, a lump quickly developing in the center of his throat. It had been a while since he’d heard of them actually finding one, let alone a prepubescent. Conjurers were a rarity. Those who held the powers were few and far between, and those who actually practiced their art were even rarer. But, a little girl? He knows it isn’t beyond them to do something so brutal, but that didn’t make it sit any easier. It tested his gag reflex just imagining the horrible crime, his stomach churning. Kagome had to watch it, though. She saw it all first hand. She was beaten for running out of line, and he was willing to put money down that he knew what for.

The girl wasn’t making eye contact, and he understood that this must have been traumatizing for her to witness, making the ordeal difficult to talk about. He wasn’t aggravated by waiting her out this time, nor was it pressing any limits. This was recent, and hard, and he could see her face paling even though the firelight wasn’t hitting her as well.

He focused on his olfaction, expecting to catch the scent of tears when instead he caught the hint of copper. Immediately, his eyes scanned her, looking for open wounds. Had their heads collided that hard to make her bleed? Her face was fine, her neck, her exposed chest all fine, the green of her sleeves weren’t stained, but then he stopped his trail at her bandaged hand. It was coming from there, and at the very edge, just beneath her pinky, he could see a red stain peeking through.

“Your hand.” Inuyasha mentioned instinctually. Kagome glanced at him curiously before redirecting her attention toward her restrained wrists. She opened up her palms to find the blood seeping through her bandages, and seemed just as surprised as he was, a small sound escaping her mouth. “Where’d that come from?”

“The inspection,” She explained. “It hasn’t healed yet.” Honestly, she was willing to bet she’d accidentally reopened the wound when she’d squeezed her dagger. That’s where the sharp pain had come from. How stupid. “There’s a little kit in my bag full of medical supplies. Would you mind fishing it out for me?”

“For what?”

“I need to change my bandages.”

Unenthusiastically, Inuyasha pushed himself from the ground, sauntering over toward the girl’s backside where he kneeled. He yanked the drawstring of the bag on her back loose, opening it up and reaching in for the kit, only having to shove a few things out of the way to get to it. At the side, he noticed her bottle for water and pulled that out, too. It was maybe less than half full, so he figured while he let her play around with her wrappings, he’d go fill it up for her. She didn’t need to be drinking his if she had her own.

Shutting her bag and pushing the kit a little closer for her to reach, he ignored her words of gratitude and mumbled a quick, “Be right back,” before wandering off into the woods and toward the river.

He kneeled on the rock, opening the canteen and dumping the old contents out before leaning over to fill it up with fresh water. He had a habit of closing his own bottle and shaking the water about to rinse the container, and as he fell into a deep train of thought, he allowed his habits to run their course. Honestly, he’d only seen a couple of inspections happen, and he had a reputation for not seeing them all the way through, instead breaking it up and challenging the mother fuckers to fight. The groups he’d seen were no match for him at all, and if they didn’t end up running away with their tails between their legs, they were dead on sight. He had zero tolerance for that horse shit, but because of that, in the end, he had limited insight on the ramifications of an uninterrupted inspection. Was walking away looking the way Kagome did normal? No. She’d said it had gotten out of hand, and she’d stepped out of line. Presumably, she’d stepped out of line to try and save the little girl who was being attacked. So, she was punished for that, but what about the cut on her hand? Did she try to stop a knife and grab the blade? Did they slice her? Was she concealing any other open injuries that needed treating?

Fuck, everything he’d initially thought was washed down the river. If she was running from Naraku’s henchmen, even if a bounty did appear over her head, there was no fucking way in hell Inuyasha was about to help them. There was no amount of money that would ever get him to cooperate with those fucking creeps.

She wasn’t running, she’d said. She was looking for somebody. There was a good chance she was looking for someone to help her town; maybe even find a solution to the infestation of nasty, unwashed demons trekking through like they owned the damn place. Who was he to stand in her way? Kagome was probably afraid to tell him the truth because she didn’t know whose side he was on in the first place, but after hearing him mention his preference to be further away from villages while camping due to those bastards, she most likely realized where he stood.

In truth, it was because of his notoriety that he was obligated to stay further away. He wasn’t just a half demon, but he was a well-known enemy of Naraku’s stupid ass men. They wanted him dead, and vise versa. More importantly, he wanted Naraku dead and he wasn’t shy about letting it be known. Naraku had taken so much from people, leaving nothing but needless death and destruction in his wake. Naraku was psychotic, power hungry, and insatiable. There was no one genius enough to reason with him, there was no one compassionate enough to calm him down, but there were few strong enough to kill him. Inuyasha was one of them. Naraku wanted to make life harder for a hanyou, but he couldn’t wait for the day it backfired on him. Because, a hanyou was going to be the one to bring him down.

Inuyasha stepped back into their little camp, focusing on the agitated huffs coming from the girl. She was leaned over some, her dark hair waving over the sides of her face to block his view of what was going on, but when she quickly looked over at him as he snapped a twig beneath his foot, he realized she must have been struggling to get the bandages off of her hand the entire time, opting to try and pull it loose with her teeth. He should have figured he was leaving her helpless, but he hadn’t even thought of her potential complications. Shockingly, Kagome wasn’t looking at him with any amount of blame or malice in her eyes. She was simply caught off guard, and when she realized it was only him, she went straight back to work.

The half demon stifled his laughter, crossing over to her and pushing her head back after placing the canteen at her side. “Knock it off.” He muttered. She flinched slightly as he reached over her legs, pulling out the knife in her boot and smirking.

“You knew I had that?” Kagome asked, stunned.

“Of course, I knew.” He chuckled, cutting the rope from her wrists. “I literally left everything on you without bothering to pat you down. It’s not odd for someone to have another weapon to rely on in case they lose their primary. And, I saw the butt of it sticking out when I got back from collecting fire wood.”

Inuyasha watched a slight expression of defeat cross her face where she sighed, closed her eyes, and dropped her head a little. It was easy to know what she was thinking. If she were in a more dangerous situation, that would have gotten her into a lot of trouble.

“Let me see it.” He said with a low tone, gesturing to her palm with a nod of his head. He carefully slipped the knife back into her boot and waited for her to get over her apprehension so he could take a look at the damn wound.

Kagome studied him for a moment. What game was he playing? Was he going to help her or hurt her? Now that she was untied, she could do this part herself for sure. There was no need for him to help, so why was he offering? Or, maybe he just literally wanted to see. No matter which end it was, there was no harm in allowing it. Kagome went ahead and removed her bag, bow, and arrows from her shoulders, relaxing slightly now that the weight was off of her before she gave him her hurt hand.

“Come here, closer to the light.” Inuyasha grunted, picking himself up and inching the both of them closer to the fire.

He went ahead and undid her wrappings, tossing it into the flames and taking a look at the decent knick in her skin. It was definitely still fresh, but wasn’t bleeding all that bad. Inuyasha twisted her wrist to face the fire better, spreading the cut open a little further so he could see if there was any dirt that didn’t belong, ignoring her small hiss of objection.

“When was this?” He asked, grabbing her water canteen and opening it up.

“Yesterday.” Kagome replied promptly, her nose crinkling as he poured the cold water over her palm. He paused for a moment to squeeze his hands down her fingers, sort of massaging, and she realized he was cleaning the entire area. She was surprised by his gentleness and efficiency, his calloused fingers rough but mindful, and his claws never once threatening.

“Jesus, no wonder you look like shit.” He commented. There it was. Less than twelve hours into knowing the man, and she’d already grown unfazed to any satirical retorts. It was just how he communicated, wasn’t it? He poured more water, this time opening the wounded area again and running the liquid directly through, once more ignoring her little wince. “You got anything in that kit to clean a cut?”

“Mhm.” She nodded, reaching for it and opening it up. She went ahead and pulled out the small containers, reading her cousin’s sloppy handwriting. After rustling through a few, she pulled out the disinfectant, healing ointment, and held a couple cotton balls in her free hand for him. She’d thought about offering to do it herself, but this man’s kindness came and went, and she felt she should appreciate what he had to give at the moment.

Inuyasha took the first container she’d set out along with one of the cotton balls, dousing it in the disinfectant. “Keep going. You never finished telling me what happened.”

Kagome had been braced for the sting of the disinfectant, and it took a moment for her to realign, now bracing for the impact of reliving yesterday.

Kagome felt her face scrunch uncontrollably as he cleaned out her wound. “The - um -“ She was trying not to stammer, trying to concentrate on giving him the story he wanted as straight as possible, but she felt nervous, a lump beginning to develop in her throat. She had to be careful not to let anything slip. She should be more than accustomed to this routine by now, but there was something undeniable about Inuyasha that made her want to trust him. That was the hazardous part of all of this, and she had to remind herself not to get carried away.

“The demons - Naraku’s demons - had been coming more often than usual lately. They were positive that a conjurer was in our village, but I don’t know what made them so sure. They tried something new this time, though. I don’t know if you’re familiar with an inspection, but they typically go for wrecking things and intimidation. Sometimes, it gets physical, and the elderly are more at risk when that happens.”

“Yeah, I know that much.” He quietly mentioned, hiding his anger, grabbing the ointment and softly applying a generous amount.

“This time, they narrowed the demographic. Called out girls between the ages of five and twenty and had us all line up. They cut our hands with a knife and then held on to see if we’d have a conjurer’s reaction to their demonic energy.” She explained.

“A conjurer’s reaction?” He inquired, brows furrowing as he reached into her kit for the roll of bandages.

“I don’t know too much about it.” Kagome shook her head, shrugging slightly. “But, they got one.” She said sadly.

There was a small pause in his wrapping as Inuyasha was struck again by that information. He would have ripped their fucking heads off if he were there. A part of him wishes he had been. He didn’t seek these things out; he strictly only stepped in if it crossed his path. But, if he had been in that area, wherever it was, the little girl may have survived and the woman before him wouldn’t be so harmed.

“Did you know her?” Inuyasha asked, promptly returning to what he was doing.

Kagome gave another shake of her head. “I know my neighbors, and the shop keepers, but otherwise, the people in my town tend to keep to themselves. Always sort of have, I guess. The less anyone knows nowadays, the better, anyway. Or, worse. Maybe more people would have stepped in if things were more personal. They stabbed her. Everyone just watched.” She could hear the mother’s scream ringing in her ears, and Kagome’s face twisted painfully. “I ran out of line to try and help the little girl, but there was nothing I could do. The bleeding wouldn’t stop.”

Inuyasha could see the anguish vividly on her brow. She was unconsciously staring down, looking at his thigh but not actually looking at it. She was engulfed by the events of the day before, and he could guess that if she stayed on this track, she’d get trapped and spiral. He did the first thing that came to mind to prevent that, yanking on the bandages he was still working on wrapping. He’d just passed her wound, so the bandages pressed firmly into it, applying a physical pain that had her irises shooting up to him as she gasped slightly.

“Ow.” Came her barely audible whimper.

“So, you got your ass handed to you for running to help?” He asked, averting her mind from the dead girl.

“Mhm, pretty much.” Kagome nodded. “You think I look bad, you should see my cousin.”

“What happened to them?”

“He got double teamed for trying to help me. His ribs might be broken, but I’m not sure.”

“It’s pretty easy to tell. How are you not sure?” Inuyasha inquired skeptically, cutting off the end of the bandages and tying it securely. Her hand was wrapped just as it was before; from wrist to the base of her fingers, properly protecting the wound from dirt or infection slipping through any openings.

“The doctor was away, and I left before his return. I left that night.” Kagome said, appreciating his skilled work on her hand as she looked it over. It was definitely less sloppy than what she would have done on her own. “Thank you.”

“Why’d you leave?” He pressed, feeling like they’d come full circle.

“I’m looking for someone.” She repeated.

“Someone to help?”

“Yes and no.” Really, she should have just said yes, but it wasn’t that simple. She didn’t want to make it seem like she wanted to target the superficial issue when the only way to truly take care of it was to annihilate it at the root. Because, if he were to say he knew a person, she wouldn’t be able to accept the help, turn around, and go home.

“Kagome -“

“I can’t tell you.” And, she hoped he’d let it go. She hoped giving him every other detail he wanted to know was enough for him to respect that there was one thing he wanted that she couldn’t give him. “Please, Inuyasha. I can’t tell you.”

Though she seemed stable, he could tell there was desperation that he wouldn’t keep pestering her about the issue. She wasn’t going to crack. No, her eyes were telling him she couldn’t crack. It was detrimental that she held her ground, and truthfully, that only made him want to know more. What the hell was this girl up to? What was going on? Inuyasha had to remind himself that he wasn’t involved, and if this was as much as she was willing to share, then so be it. As much as he wanted to pry, he’d already gotten enough to know that keeping her around wouldn’t be beneficial to him. He should have just listened to her in the first place. As mouthy as she was, as irritating as she was, she was right. He’d only wasted his time. And, rope.

Begrudgingly, the hanyou tried to push the issue to the back of his mind - though, currently, the furthest he could force it was midway. He sighed heatedly, leaning back onto his hands. “Any other battle wounds you’re hiding, or is this it?”

A small weight lifted from her shoulders at his subject change. Kagome breathed a little lighter, inwardly thanking him for dropping it, and shook her head. “No, it was just my hand.”

“Alright. Look, stay here tonight and then in the morning you can carry on with your grand quest.”

“You’re - you’re letting me go?” She asked, slightly cocking her head to the side. “Just like that?”

No, it couldn’t be that easy. Could it? He literally held her prisoner just to release her at the end of the day? It was no more than twenty minutes ago that she was borderline freaking out because she wasn’t willing to make a break for it, and here she was untied and set free by a guy who thoughtfully helped clean her wound first. She couldn’t help but be glad he hadn’t heard the clashing argument she’d had with herself in her head back there. Even so, she was still mildly embarrassed, while also incredibly confused. Instead of trying to make sense of it all though, Kagome deliberately let it go. At this point, it was just too much energy that she didn’t have to solve the ever bewildering riddle that was her situation.

“What, did you want me to tie you up again?” Inuyasha questioned, arching a brow.

“No, of course not.”

“Keeping you would only slow me down. You’re not a paycheck, you’ve been through your own hell in the last twenty-four hours, so yes. I’m letting you go. Jesus, you’re probably the only idiot I’ve met who would question that and not just be grateful.”

“In my defense, you’re hard to read.” Kagome defended.

“Right back at ya.”

“But, just so we’re clear, I’m good to go?”

“Yes.” Inuyasha rolled his eyes.

“Thank god!” Kagome hopped to her feet, dusting off her butt real quick as she went to jog away.

“Hey! What the f- what did I just say!? Get your ass back here!” The half demon jolted slightly, caught off guard by her quick motions. “You’re gonna get killed out there, and I’m not chasing after you again!”

“I have to pee!” Kagome frantically stated, bouncing from one foot to the other. “I’m leaving all my stuff with you! I’m not going anywhere, I swear! Please, just - I’ve gotta go!”

Inuyasha barely hid his amused smirk as his exasperation quickly faded. The absolute urgency in her tone was enough to bring anyone to laugh, and she was lucky that all he released was a small snort. Now that he thought about it, he recalled her leg bobbing every now and again while she sat in front of him. He’d figured it was because she was anxious. No wonder she wouldn’t drink any more water. He waved her off to go relieve herself, and the woman was hasty to about face and run into the woods.

“Don’t go far!” He reflexively called after her. His sensitive ears caught her small, raspy grunt of agreement before she disappeared through the darkness of the trees.

He took the moment to inspect the area surrounding them, tuning into his senses. He didn’t feel any presences around, didn’t smell any demons, and the only human was Kagome. There were nocturnal animals about, but none that would harm her in her vulnerable state. She was safe.

Inuyasha took the opportunity to get up and cross over to his bag, pulling out the wrapped meat that was gifted to him. Thankfully, it was fully cooked so he wouldn’t have to wait for it to be heated through over the fire. It was too late for that shit, it would take too long, and he was hungry.

Footsteps steadily approaching from behind told him Kagome had returned. Inuyasha peeked over his shoulder at her, noticing her small smile as she took a seat in front of the fire on the far side, her knees cradled to her chest as she rested her chin against them. He got up, striding over with a portion for her to eat, picking up her canteen along the way. “Here.”

“What’s this?” She asked, her tone small as she took the contents he offered.

“Food. Eat. You haven’t had anything all day, have you?” He guessed, walking back over to the opposite side of the fire. Inuyasha sat in front of a tree, leaning back to rest against it as he ate his own portion. “And, drink your fucking water.”

“When did you even fill this up?” She asked, noticing for the first time that it was her own bottle she was holding.

“Geez, you’re oblivious. I grabbed it when I pulled out your medical box, kid.”

“Oh, that’s what you went back into the forest for.” Kagome clued in. “Thank you.”

Inuyasha didn’t respond, eating his food and no longer minding her. She set the bottle to the side of her thigh, allowing her legs to fall into a crossed position so she could sit more comfortably as she ate. With her first bite came the first, huge grumble her stomach spoke that day, shouting it’s demand for sustenance. She froze, feeling the hanyou’s amber eyes land on her. Things had been so crazy, so stressful, that she hadn’t even thought about food, her body more focused on everything else than her hunger.

“What the fuck was that?” Inuyasha snickered.

“Shut up.” She murmured, embarrassed, chewing through and taking another bite.

“Good lord, woman.”

“Shut up.”

“You sounded like a boar in heat.”

Kagome nearly choked on her food, coughing slightly as she shot Inuyasha an incredulous glare. He carelessly laughed, taking another bite of his food and winking at her. As much as she wanted to toss him a sarcastic remark, none came to mind, more focused on filling her stomach than having another argument with the jerk. It was his fault she hadn’t eaten in the first place. If she hadn’t been taken into custody by the prideful punk, she was positive she would have consumed food much sooner.

Moments passed after she’d finished, her belly happy and full, and she once more cradled her thighs to her chest, always finding comfort and warmth in this position. The half demon sat silently, eyes scouring the trees, and she wondered what he could see. Thanks to her supernatural abilities, Kagome was capable of sensing evil, demonic presences, and things that didn’t necessarily belong. But, Inuyasha, harboring demonic blood, had much more going for him. With the way the ears atop his head twitched, she assumed he could hear things very well from a distance. His eyesight had to be impeccable, and much more well-attuned to the night than her human eyes could ever be. He may not be able to sense malicious intent, but he could probably pick up demonic presences much better than she could, as well. This was his nature. He not only had the gifts of sensitive receptors, but was probably trained well since he seemed so acclimated to camping out.

“So, you’re a bounty hunter?” She asked, breaking the silence.

“Not necessarily.” He replied, glancing her way. “I go where the money is. Sometimes, it’s just to catch stupid asses and bring them back. Sometimes, it’s something specific like finding a lost child that needs help. I hate those jobs more than anything. It’s usually a sob fest and I’m caught in the middle until I’m paid. More often than not, though, I’m hired to kill evil beings.”

“Oh, like a demon slayer.” Kagome perked.

“Again, not necessarily. Humans can be evil, too.”

“Oh, right.” She felt a little presumptuous. “Sorry.”

“How do you even know what a demon slayer is? Isn’t that profession dead?” He inquired. At one point in time, years ago, demon slayers were a threat to be reckoned with. They held power, kept the peace, and had the numbers to kill off mass swarms of belligerent demons. As far as he was aware, it seemed they’d fallen off the face of the planet. They had been overpowered, their villages practically wiped out from targeted attack after targeted attack. At this point, with the odds against them, it was more than unlikely that they’d come back from that.

“We actually have a small group in our town.” Kagome mentioned. “My friend is the daughter of their leader.”

“You know demon slayers? Actual demon slayers?”

“Mhm.” She nodded.

“They must keep a low profile.” He assumed. That had to be the case. He’d been all over and hadn’t seen or heard of any demon slayers around.

“Kind of. They don’t travel off too far; they just take care of troublesome demons within a specific radius. And, they only take on cases they know they can handle with their numbers. They’re very picky on how old people need to be to join, and their training is rigorous and not for the weak.”

“I’m a little confused. You have these given protectors in your own village, but you walked out looking like that?”

“They can’t stop inspections, they can only make sure they don’t get out of control. And, they’d actually left on a job, so we were on our own. No one knew there was a conjurer in the village to protect. If Sango’s dad was aware of her, I’m sure he would have taken steps to help her.” Kagome was speaking from experience. He was there when she found out she was a conjurer, herself. After her father died, he always checked in to make sure things were okay. He constantly reassured her that if anything happened or she needed help, he was there. After Naraku came to rise and demons began looking for people of her kind, killing them off, he was very clear that she needed to know how to properly subdue her powers. He wasn’t aware that she was way ahead of him. Sango’s father was protective, a guardian, and Kagome was forever grateful. She was certain he would have offered the same blanket of protection to that little girl.

“Oh, so that’s who Sango is.” Inuyasha smirked.

Kagome giggled, nodding. She’d almost forgotten she’d used her friend’s name before. “Yeah. I’m no good at coming up with fake names on the spot, so I had to take one from someone I knew.”

“Does she know you’re out here?”

“By now, I’m sure she does.”

“Wait, you didn’t tell her?”

“No.”

“Did anyone know you were leaving? You got a family, kid? You said you have a cousin, right? He know?”

“Like I said, by now, I’m sure everyone is aware that I’m missing. The only one who knew I was leaving was my younger brother, and he kept it a secret because my cousin would have tried to stop me. Mom, too.”

“As they should. You said your friend is the daughter of the head demon slayer, right? I’m assuming she’s skilled. You’d have been smart to at least bring her. Alone, you’re nothing but an easy target.”

“Well, I didn’t really have a choice, Inuyasha.” She stated, tucking herself a little closer into her thighs. “Everything happened so fast yesterday, it was hard to get a grip. I made my decision and left. Miroku would have only hurt himself more by trying to stop me, and Sango had to take care of her own brother since their dad was out on a job. I did what I had to do.”

“What is so goddamn important?”

“Ah, we’re heading into dangerous territory again.” Kagome lightly warned, raising her brows as she grinned.

Inuyasha groaned, rolling his golden eyes. “You’re so stubborn.”

“I am. I really am.” She proudly agreed.

“Not a flex.”

“You’re stubborn, too. You’ve asked me the same question like eight hundred times.” Kagome rebutted.

“See, now you’re just dramatic.” Inuyasha shrugged.

“Sorry, seven hundred and ninety-nine.”

“Shut up and go to sleep.” He said, abruptly ending all conversation.

Kagome eyed him, a little unsettled. She looked around the area, worried her bottom lip, then glanced back at him. With everything that had happened, he couldn’t really expect her to feel comfortable sleeping right now, right? Sure, she was utterly exhausted, and if she rested her head against anything, she would have fallen asleep instantly, but that involved letting her guard down. He’d proven, so far, not to be as harmful as she’d half expected. That didn’t mean she trusted him well enough to be completely vulnerable in an unconscious state with him, though. She wanted to trust him, but this was like a leap of faith. With his expression falling into slight frustration, the man rolled his eyes for the nth time.

“Oh, relax. I’m not gonna do a damn thing to you. If I were you, I’d take the offer. Tomorrow, you’re on your own and you won’t be able to get a full night’s sleep again.”

He was right. She didn’t like admitting it, but he was right. She would only be able to afford a couple of hours at a time, and even that would be risky. She hadn’t fully recovered from yesterday’s stress, and given what she went through today, if she didn’t take the opportunity, she’d be a hopeless, wandering, mess tomorrow.

Kagome regarded him with a nod, then sighed as she got up and grabbed her bag. There was nothing too hard in it at the moment so she could happily use it as a pillow. She pulled it a little closer to the fire so she wouldn’t get too cold in the night, curling up and resting her head down.

“Can you do me a favor?” Kagome asked, her voice small.

“What?”

“Don’t leave without waking me up, please.”

“Shut up.” Inuyasha wouldn’t leave her completely defenseless. He’d told her to go to sleep because he was there to watch over her. He’d be able to sense danger from a mile away, unlike a helpless human. She was wise to take his advice. She looked like hell and she’d been sluggish for the majority of the day, even making him feel bad for her for a while. Letting her go off on her own tomorrow the way she was now felt cruel.

Apparently, she was learning to read his tone. She was even surprised she could understand the underlying message in his comment. Kagome took a moment to inwardly thank him, sighing out as much tension as she could as she closed her eyes, quickly falling asleep.

—

The sky was dark, the deep blue of night tinted with a poisonous shade of violet. Smoke and fire surrounded her, but Kagome’s lungs inhaled and exhaled just fine, unaffected by the tainted air. She circled around, scanning the area slowly. Was this a dream? Was it real? She felt neither hot nor cold, but she did feel conscious and scared. What had happened? Where was she?

“Inuyasha?” Kagome called, stepping backward in her panic. Where did he go? Was he okay? Did he leave her?

“You’re a fool, Kagome.”

She spun around quickly to face Kikyo, her fair skin sprinkled with sweat and hair sticking to her dampened neck. She wore a condemning look, brown eyes boring through her, her hand gripping her own bow tightly while she stood just feet away.

“You.” Kagome breathed.

“Your first day, and this is what happens to you? You’re taken into captivity by a half demon?” Kikyo scolded.

“What?” Kagome was confused, now more than ever. “How did you even know that?”

“That is irrelevant.”

“No, it isn’t. How did you know that, Kikyo?”

“I have insight on you, Kagome. Shouldn’t you know that by now?”

“How?”

“Because, I am the conjurer you’re supposed to be!” Kikyo shouted, her voice deep and angry. “You have so much potential, you are strong, you learn quicker than even myself, and yet you’re living up to nothing! Less than twenty-four hours after leaving, you get yourself into needless trouble. I am disappointed in you.”

“Gee thanks, mom.” Kagome slighted, her temper swelling. “Glad you called me here to put me down. You seem to forget that you have no right, though. None of what you just said explains anything. You’ve given me no path to follow, no direction to go in -“

“You aren’t meant to follow mine, you’re meant to follow your own, Kagome! Use your powers! Your intuition is stronger than anyone’s; you can figure it out!”

“Aren’t I supposed to find you?”

“We will find each other soon enough.”

“How do you have insight?” Just as Kagome asked, a thin, white, serpent-like creature floated down. It had six legs in the front of its long body resembling that of insects, perching on Kikyo’s shoulder as its long tail curled around her frame. “What is that?”

“Shinidamachu; a soul collector. To aid in my power, I will sometimes take the souls of deceased women.”

“How - what!?” Kagome’s face twisted bewilderingly. “You steal the souls from dead women!?”

Kikyo released an exacerbated exhale from her nose, the sound deep and clenched. Kagome could tell they were heading down a road the conjurer had never counted on going down, but Kagome didn’t care. You can’t just throw that information at her and expect her to brush it off like this is a normal occurrence.

“The souls help aid in longevity and health. If I am wounded or exhausted, putting up a barrier and collecting a soul or two will increase the rate of my recovery. My soul collector has also helped me understand you better.”

“Do you use it to spy on me?”

“I use it to make sure you aren’t misusing your abilities or getting yourself killed. You are still young and inexperienced. There is much you have yet to learn before you can take on Naraku.”

“Have you ever considered, instead of doing that, maybe just teaching me yourself? I feel like things would move along a lot faster that way.” There was a bit of snarky attitude in Kagome’s tone, her jaw tensing as she listened to Kikyo talk down to her.

“I cannot teach you.” Kikyo stated plainly.

“Why not?”

“I am not meant to.”

“Why?”

“Because, I am the distraction while you are the weapon. I know you think other conjurers may be coming, but they aren’t. You are the only one who is meant to do this. I cannot teach you, because we desperately need to stay separated. You and I together are nothing but sitting ducks. If Naraku catches wind that I am helping another conjurer, which he would, he would bring down nothing but hell. I cannot help you.”

Kagome stood there, mouth hanging agape, her eyes focusing on the sweat drop that glided down Kikyo’s temple. That was a lot to unpack, and these were things she would have definitely benefitted from learning earlier. Why was Kikyo only telling her this now? Why was this the most in-depth conversation they’d ever managed to have? She was finally receiving clear answers, but it felt like her mind was unraveling. While she’d had a small hunch that she may have been the only conjurer Kikyo was reaching out to, it was still a shock to have it definitively confirmed.

“Why - why didn’t you tell me any of this sooner?” Kagome inquired unsteadily.

“I couldn’t. You wouldn’t have been able to handle it. I wanted to slowly ease you into things as you matured. I still don’t think now was the right time to tell you the entire truth, but I seem to have had no choice. You’re stubborn; you would have only kept asking questions.”

“So I’ve heard.” Kagome shrugged her brows, eyes falling to the charred grass beneath her boots.

“I collect the souls to keep up my strength. To keep me going until you’re ready. That is my purpose. Yours is to save everyone.”

“No pressure.” She sarcastically and quietly remarked.

“You need to make wiser decisions starting immediately, Kagome. Do you hear me? Trust your intuition.”

“I do!” Kagome quickly defended.

“Then you should know better than to put any amount of trust in a demon right now.” She hastily countered. “We’re at war with demons, what in the world would make you trust them?”

“Inuyasha’s already released me, what are you talking about?”

“Then get up and leave!”

“He hasn’t hurt me, Kikyo! If anything, even while I was in his captivity, he kept me safe! I mean, hell, he saved my life to begin with! He made a mistake, but he’s not a bad person!”

“He has demon blood, does he not!?”

“That is neither here nor there!” Kagome yelled, infuriated. “You sound pretty prejudiced for a conjurer. A little ironic, don’t you think?”

“You do not know what you are talking about, and if you keep this up, I’m afraid you are going to have to learn things the hard way. I’ve had kinder demons betray me, Kagome. Never let him find out the truth about you.”

“He isn’t bad.”

“You are naive.”

“No, you are.”

“I know what I’m -“

“You’re ignorant, too.” She interrupted, her face feeling hot, but it was of her own anger and not due to the dying flames around them. “If your only argument for me not to trust him is the blood running through his veins, then it’s falling on deaf ears.”

“You defend him as if you know him.”

“I defend him as if he deserves a chance to prove himself! Just like us! My friend has a twin-tailed cat demon in her family, you got something to say about her, too?”

“Kagome, enough. You’re a fool.”

“Yeah, you said that already.” Kagome stated bluntly.

“Heed my warning.” Kikyo all but ordered. “Stay away from him.”

Kagome could only shake her head in disbelief. “You can’t be serious. You would actually judge him -“

“Please, do not mistake me. I just want you to be cautious. Overtly cautious. You’re alone, you can’t afford many mistakes like this. It’s not that I believe all demons are evil; I’m saying you will never know off the bat which ones will turn on you. Make your friends after the war. For now, you cannot give your trust to any demon; half breed or what have you.” Kikyo took a deep breath in the time where things seemingly sunk into Kagome’s head. Her plush lips were parted, and her brown eyes fell to the ground, almost in disappointment. The girl was still immature, and though Kikyo was fully aware of the hardships that came with being a conjurer, she could still see so much hope radiating from Kagome. So much hope and heart. The thing was, the heart was the most important part of their kind. It was what made up their strength; their passion drove their power. But, so easily could it break them as well. Being a conjurer was like holding a double-edged sword. If you had that fire within you, you could thwart evil, but if your heart is crushed, you could lose it all in an instant. Kagome seemed to wear her heart on her sleeve, wanted to trust easily, believed everyone deserved a chance, but she - being who she was - could not afford that way of living.

“What did you mean?” Kagome finally spoke, picking her eyes from the ground and slowly drifting them upwards to meet Kikyo’s. “You said I’m a weapon. What did you mean by that?”

“Isn’t it obvious? You are the one capable of bringing Naraku to his knees.”

She shook her head, half in denial and half in disbelief. “You said this was our responsibility. The responsibility is ours, remember? You gave me that spiel over and over again for, like, the past year.”

“And, it is.”

“‘Our’ is a very broad term, Kikyo.”

“You and I.”

“That’s it? We have this maniacal tyrant, and the world apparently only has the two of us to depend on?”

“Don’t push your lack of confidence on me, Kagome. I know it’s a lot of responsibility when you think about it, but destiny has this written in stone?”

“Oh yeah?” Kagome questioned exasperatedly. “I’d like to see the terms and conditions. Where’s the plaque?”

“Kagome -“

“You say all of this too lightly, Kikyo! This may be common sense to you, but this is breaking news to me!”

“All you need to focus on for now is yourself! You have the room to practice more! You don’t have to hold back for the sake of your home, and I know you have been! I can see what you’re capable of, and it’s monumental! You will surpass me if you just dedicate yourself, so do it! Stop holding yourself back, and stop being so goddamned scared! Pick yourself up, protect yourself, trust no one, adapt, and I’ll meet you at the finish line. Together, we will be unstoppable.”

The conjurer seemed so sure, so stable. She truly believed in what she said, and Kagome couldn’t help but swallow any uneasiness she was currently feeling. Kikyo’s confidence was contagious, but there was one thing wrong with what she was preaching. She treated her intuition as the end-all, but Kagome had a gut of her own. It was telling her something different. Kagome’s intuition was telling her Kikyo was jaded, and it would be smart of her to trust any alliance she could form. She was alone for now, and she didn’t particularly know what her next move was, but something told Kagome she wasn’t going to be able to beat this battle on her own. Even getting to the so-called finish line, as Kikyo put it, was going to require some help, and there was nothing wrong with that. She could understand why Kikyo was insisting Kagome put her guard up. The mistake she’d made with Inuyasha could have been detrimental. If it were anyone else, she didn’t know what would have happened to her, and for that, despite it all, she was thankful her circumstances were what they were. In a twisted sense, she’d gotten lucky.

Honestly, Kagome didn’t know where Kikyo was getting her information from. If she was prophetic, she’d give her kudos, because as far as she was aware, that wasn’t in the job description of being a conjurer. Maybe she was having secret dream rendezvous with actual clairvoyants. Either way, Kagome was dying to hear this all herself, because no matter how much Kikyo’s statements repeated in her head, not all of it was adding up. She could tell that arguing was a waste of time, though. She felt like she’d get nowhere with Kikyo. Kikyo was set in her ways and convinced of future events playing out in specific patterns, but Kagome truly, truly, felt like things were immediately about to shift.

She’d take Kikyo’s advice. She’d be careful, and she’d use her powers with less restraint. She’d be cautious about her surroundings, she’d screen anyone she came across, and she’d increase her power. What she wouldn’t do was isolate herself or stay away from those who have no control over the blood beneath their flesh. Kagome couldn’t bring herself to look at things that way. Maybe it was naive, but it didn’t matter. The open-mindedness sat right with her.

“Kagome, do you trust me?”

“I want to.” Kagome admitted. “You’ve been a mystery up until now.”

“I’ve been told I’m not as direct as I could be.” Kikyo laughed quietly. “I want to trust you, too.”

“Does Naraku know about me?”

“I have a feeling he will soon enough. It’s inevitable. That’s why it’s imperative for us to stay apart until we can’t anymore.”

“Got it.” Kagome acknowledged. There was a beat of silence where it seemed they were both processing their encounter. She wondered how long Kikyo had been on her own, fighting this battle. She said she was the distraction. Kagome felt sympathetic for her situation. It must have been terrifying at times, hard, and exhausting. She must have tried to form alliances only to be stomped on multiple times to explain the mentality she was harboring. Kagome wondered if her gaze lacked vibrancy because of how drained she was. She wondered if she had no choice but to rely on collecting souls so she could stay on her feet until the day was done. Was there no rest for this conjurer, playing the distraction until Kagome was ready?

This fueled her, a heightened sense of determination shooting through her veins. If she needed to expand her strength, then she’d do it as quickly as possible. She’d get stronger, more powerful, and become the fierce conjurer Kikyo was so that she wasn’t alone in this fight anymore. She expected Kikyo not to always agree with the way she went about things, but what mattered was the endgame. With this, Kagome was one step closer.

“Remember what I said. Follow your intuition.”

“I will.” Kagome agreed. “Mind if I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.”

“Where are we?”

“Nowhere.”

Kagome grimaced, looking around at the fire that she couldn’t feel the heat from but Kikyo obviously could as sweat continued to dot her face. It definitely didn’t look like nowhere to her.

“Technically, this is the spot of a recent demon attack. But, we are in an in between space. No one can see us; we’re talking in my mind.”

“Your mind?”

“Correct. I am here, and you are not.”

“How are you doing this?”

“We have a connection, Kagome.” Kikyo grinned, though it seemed lackluster and Kagome noted the dark circles beneath her eyes. “We are two connected by fate.”

“So, can I do this? I mean, can I connect with your subconscience and talk to you?”

“No. My mind is too guarded. You wouldn’t be able to reach me, even if you knew how. Even so, I only partially brought you here. I am too far from you for a more physical aspect. Though, I’m sure you don’t mind.” Kikyo said, sort of laughing at herself.

Kagome wasn’t sure if that was something Kikyo should be proud of. It sounded slightly depressing to be so guarded. Though, alternatively speaking, it could be seen as a weakness on Kagome’s behalf that Kikyo was able to jump on through to her whenever she so pleased. That still didn’t much answer how she was doing this, but Kagome was willing to let it go. This wasn’t necessarily anything Kagome desired to do, anyway. Telepathy always sort of creeped her out.

“Are you gonna be okay?” Kagome couldn’t help but ask, taking Kikyo’s current state into consideration.

“You have nothing to worry about. Please, focus on yourself. You must get stronger.”

“I will. I swear.”

“Be careful, Kagome.”

She blinked her eyes open, brows furrowing as the brightness of the campfire momentarily blinded her. The night was quiet and peaceful, and as Kagome came to, slowly turning away from the light, she realized she was covered by something thick and warm. It was crimson, and as she moved her legs to readjust herself so her hip would stop digging into the earth, she noticed it only covered her up until her mid-thigh. It smelled so good, the scent inexplicably comforting her as she pulled it further over her shoulder and closer to her nose. She’d always appreciated the aroma of the woodlands, that of campfires, but there was an additional spice that sent a warmth fluttering through her abdomen. Did it belong to Inuyasha?

Inuyasha.

Sluggishly, she picked herself up on her elbow, looking over to the tree where she’d last seen him. The hanyou wasn’t there, and while an unsettling thud came from her chest, she could still feel his presence nearby. Kagome turned her head, observing their little area of the forest before her eyes came right back to the very same tree. Glancing upward, she spotted him sitting on a high branch, his back against the trunk and a leg hanging over the side, staring off into the night.

From where he sat, the moonlight was hitting him perfectly. His silver hair shined with dimmed hues of blue and white, and his skin glowed as if he were a descendent of Luna, herself. He was handsome. It was moments before Kagome could bring herself to look away, only finding her eyes drifting right back to her guardian above. His jawline was sharp, the shadows of the night where the moon couldn’t reach him complimenting his features just as well. A sudden, thin feeling of jealousy prickled at Kagome’s chest. She envied the moon, and the night, itself. They got to touch him.

She felt safe. Nothing inside of Kagome told her to run, or leave, or to tread carefully. Instead, she was heavy and solid where she lay. For the first time in two days, everything felt okay. In the morning, she would head her own way. Kikyo had no reason to be concerned. Inuyasha and Kagome would say goodbye and never see each other again. In the morning.

Kagome rested her head back against her makeshift pillow, tucking herself further into Inuyasha’s crimson garment. The scent of him washed over her once more, and she held onto it, memorizing it. She allowed herself to be comfortable, to feel serene. She allowed herself to rest under his safety.

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#inuyasha #kagome #kagome higurashi #inukag #inuyasha fanfiction #inuyasha fanfic #inuyasha fic #inukag fanfiction #inukag fanfic #inukag fic #monster #akitokihojo

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What Anxiety Can Do To Your Body|Self Life Hacks

What anxiety can do to your body ??

The Stress Response:

Your muscles would become tense, your heart races with speed, and you would breath faster. As the stress is related to flight or fright response to the unexpected or unwanted  stress-- we all know what stress feels like. a chronic stress causes unwanted changes in the body which is most likely in a negative response. these responses are mostly due to the hormonal influence on each cell of our body.

Changes in chemicals in your body:

Hormones are chemicals which are produced in the body according to the response given to the organs which produce the hormones. These chemicals like adrenaline, nor adrenaline, cortisol which are produced by the adrenal glands can cause various unwanted effects on the body like they can weaken your bones and your immune system, mess with your sleep, and make you lose muscle when present in high levels in our body.

Stomach response to stress:

There are vast negative effects on your digestive system then you think, that include following Causing your esophagus to go into spasms, Increasing the acid in your stomach, which results in indigestion ,making you feel nauseous

Bathroom Trouble:

Giving you diarrhea or constipation, these are only few of the effects causes by the stressing  chronically for long time can cause inflammatory bowl syndrome, irritable bowl syndrome. This can cause the lose of the essential nutrients in the body an there by leading to both electrolyte and vitamin imbalance in our body leading to weakness and extra stress.

Heartburn and gastric problem:

The chronic stress causes the increased acid production in the body there by leading a various health issues like peptic ulcers and reflex disorders. which mostly present like the stomach pain, chest burn, pain in the throat, ulcers in the mouth. This gastric issues are mostly due to either over eating or avoid of the eating during the stress, both are harmful to the body. This is what anxiety can do to your body.

Headaches:

The headache due is stress is called as tension headache. these are most common headache when you are stressed. the main treatment of this headache is to control the stress and other mental health issues like the anxiety. There are various scientifically proved techniques to remove the stress which can be helpful in removing the stress headache.

Menstrual disturbances:

Women who are mostly stressed can be having physical health issues like the missed periods or painful periods , this may also include serious form of distress during periods are  premenstrual syndrome (PMS) worse -- the mood swings and cramping some women get before their periods.

Sexual Desire:

Stress can cause both mental and physical heal issues like that of the erectile dysfunction and less desire for having sex.This is what anxiety can do to your body.

Breathing Issues:

When stressed frequently this may lead to increased respiratory rate. people who are having pre existing respiratory disorders like asthma, emphysema etc can have difficulty in having proper respiration and can lead to exacerbation of the diseases.

Heart Problems:

The hormones that get into your system when you’re stressed can be bad for your heart if they stay at high levels. The stress hormones like the adrenaline and cortisol can lead to the increases in the pulse and heart rate and thereby leading to heart attack and sudden death in few causes. This can have both structural as well as the functional effects on the heart leading to the deterioration of the function of the heart capacity in the long term.

Diabetes:

The hormonal changes the stressed condition of the body can cause the chronic health issues like diabetes. the stress causes the nerves to fire due to the increases hormonal levels like the stress hormones. During this process your body may not be able to process the glucose released by your firing nerve cells if you have diabetes. If you can’t convert the glucose into energy, it builds up in the bloodstream. This causes your blood glucose levels to rise.

When you’re stressed, your liver releases glucose into your blood to fuel your fight-or-flight response. This is what anxiety can do to your body.

How to avoid stress

Meditation and physical relaxation

The meditation helps to give mental peace and happiness. Use the techniques such as deep breathing, and various guided visualizations, yoga and guided body scans to relax the body.

Build resilience

Resiliency is our ability to bounce back from stressful or negative experiences. To simplify, resilient people accept that the situation has occurred, they learn from what transpired and then they move on.

Talk it out

Don’t block it all inside. Talk to someone close to you about your worries or the things getting you down. Sharing worries is halving them.

If you don’t feel up to sharing, writing them down is also a great way to release them or by engaging an independent professional. There are plenty of services available, including free services, which you can quickly google to find what’s available in your city.

Sleep

Getting a good night sleep is fundamental for recharging and dealing with stressful situations in the best possible way. While it varies from individual to individual, on the exact amount of sleep needed, an uninterrupted sleep of approximately 8 hours is generally recommended.  These are

few scientifically proven ways to avoid stress and anxiety.

For more related articles regarding Mental and physical health:

How to reduce weight in a healthy way?

How dark chocolate improves health and your life span ?

cell phone affects health and child development? how?

The prevention and control of diabetes mellitus: lifestyle and dietary

How can brushing teeth twice can delay memory loss?

Harmful effects of soft drinks on human body that can kill you!

What is snoring and the causes of snoring?

Get more health tips:

Visit: https://selflifehacks.com

#anxiety treatment #effects of anxiety on the brain #high anxiety symptoms #how does anxiety affect you mentally #what anxiety can do to your body #what causes anxiety #what causes anxiety and depression #mental health #physical health

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How I Cured My Crippling Panic Attacks And Anxiety [ The Ultimate Guide ]

I can remember the feeling so well.

It hit me while sitting in a lecture theatre at university, trying to pay attention to what my professor was saying.

I could be riding the bus home from university, thinking about my day and what I have to do when I get home.

Or I could be in the middle of a movie cinema with my friends, watching an action blockbuster.

Then there was the one time when I was walking down the stairs in my house, just a normal day with nothing much happening at all.

What’s common about all these situations is that I am perfectly safe. There is no imminent threat to my physical well-being.

Despite this, every one of these scenarios is locked in my memory for a reason — I experienced a panic attack that seemed to come out of nowhere.

The feeling would slowly rise, a sensation in my body that something is wrong. My mind would immediately pay attention to this feeling, wonder what is going on, and the fear would fuel the feeling of terror rising.

As is often the case, the fear of getting a panic attack feeds the panic emotion. It doesn’t take long for your heart rate to speed up, your palms get sweaty, your blood rushes, catching your breath becomes difficult and the world feels too intense.

The ‘panic attack’ lasts less than a minute, but by the end your nerves are on edge, your legs feel like jelly and you just want to be alone, yet you’re also afraid of being alone because you don’t trust your own mind and body.

When Did San Francisco Get So Scary?

I touched down at San Francisco airport. I was tired and my nerves felt ‘fried’.

For the past two months, I traveled from Australia, through Hong Kong, Tokyo, Vancouver, San Diego and then San Francisco, my home for the next two months.

I don’t love flying, especially the bumpy parts. Turbulence triggers anxiety, which used to be crippling and kept me away from traveling. As I grew older the more I flew the better I got at handling the fear. I didn’t want fear of flying to stop me from seeing the world.

While I was in San Diego I felt a lot more ‘on edge’ than normal. I thought it was just because of the hot weather, which I don’t enjoy and is a big reason why I left Australia.

That first night in San Francisco, despite it being a lot cooler in temperature than San Diego, I couldn’t sleep. My heart was pounding and I felt very anxious.

The next day I still felt on edge, like I was in a perpetual state of heightened fear, even though there was no reason to be. Life was good, I was in a new city, had plenty of money, didn’t need to do anything other than what I wanted to do, yet I wasn’t in a good state.

Over the next few weeks, I continued to experience what I came to call heightened ‘nerves’. This was a different feeling to panic attacks. Panic is more like a sudden rush of intensity, these nerves were not as intense but much more long-lasting. I felt on edge for hours at a time.

I also noticed that I triggered anxiety in response to what I put in my body. If I had dark chocolate combined with even just mild caffeine in something like green tea, the nerves would hit me shortly after.

I began to wonder if something was off in my body — a chemical imbalance perhaps?

I had to get to the bottom of this. Living with daily anxiety made it difficult to enjoy life.

Why It Took Me So Long To Write This

I’ve wanted to write an in-depth article about my panic and anxiety for many years so I could help my fellow sufferers recover, to reach a place where they feel in control and calm, just as I do today (most of the time).

However, it’s been difficult to sit down and write about this because I still know that the seeds of panic and anxiety are within me. Focusing my energy there is not comfortable.

I learned a long time ago that spending all your time thinking about your fears tends to make them worse. This, as you will see, was the root cause of what eventually erupted into panic attacks for me. Even today going back and reviewing this part of my life and personality is something I have procrastinated.

Despite this, I know I can help a lot of people who currently suffer from anxiety and panic by explaining what worked for me to gain some semblance of control and eventual stability, a platform of calm from which you can grow.

There is a good chance, like myself, you are or aspire to be an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs, more than most have to deal with challenging situations, self-doubt, and motivate themselves every day to take action. It’s one of the most ‘alone’ jobs you can do, so if you’re not physically and emotionally all there, your business is not going to work.

Even if you’re not an entrepreneur, I know for certain you are a creative person on some level. Writers, musicians, painters, designers, performers, teachers, and other people with above average sensitivity are more prone to suffer from conditions like anxiety. It’s the ‘curse’ of creativity, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

I know from my own experience when you don’t feel great you don’t work or be creative. I’ve also seen this in people I have coached over the years, as many of them have suffered from anxiety, depression, and panic attacks, which have curtailed their business growth.

My hope is by sharing the following steps I can help you to help yourself, just as I did. These techniques worked for me to reach a point where I feel cured of panic attacks (I haven’t had one in over ten years) and impacted far, far less by anxiety.

I still feel fear of course, and I have some irrational anxieties like turbulence on airplanes (the more I fly, the less this fear is there), but for the most part I would call myself a recovered anxious person.

It’s all thanks to the following 10 steps, which I believe if you implement, will significantly reduce your anxiety and panic attacks even to the point of curing them completely.

There are no guarantees of course, but if you focus on these steps and be patient with yourself as you implement them, I know you will notice improvement.

Before we look at the steps, let’s get one thing out of the way first…

What Exactly Is A Panic Attack? What Is Anxiety?

If you ‘think’ you have had a panic attack, you probably haven’t. Someone who has experienced one will know what it is. They make a lasting impression.

A panic attack is not to be confused with ‘normal’ levels of anxiety and stress from life. We all face challenges, we all feel on edge, angry, pressured and nervous at times. These emotions are not fun, but they don’t stop us from functioning as human beings and tend to go away once the cause of stress is resolved.

Anxiety that perpetuates over long periods of time, even when there is no clear reason to feel anxious, and stops you from living a fulfilling life, is often termed (and diagnosed as) ‘General Anxiety’.

From my point of view the labels or diagnosis don’t matter as much as whether you want those feelings to be there or not.

I went through a period of regular intense panic attacks, I’ve had bouts of ongoing ‘fear for no reason’ type anxiety, and I have had anxiety triggered by specific events, like turbulence on a plane and an inherited heart condition I used to experience.

All of these things were unpleasant enough that I had to do something about them because the quality of my life was deteriorating.

Through research to help cure my panic attacks (more on this coming up next), I learned that panic attacks are the result of a part of your brain — the reptilian ‘lizard’ brain — firing up the fight or flight response.

This response is ancient and meant to protect you from danger. It triggers the release of all kinds of chemicals into your body so you are stimulated to either physically fight off an attacker, or run away to find safety. It’s a super adrenaline boost designed to protect you from that bear or dinosaur that wants to eat you.

However, since there is no real danger, your body is firing up for no reason. You have basically tricked yourself into believing your life is at risk.

I look at panic attacks as the fear dial turned up to 10 quickly, then turned off just as quickly, leaving you a quivering mess. More general anxiety is like flicking the fear dial up to a four, and then leaving it there for hours a time. It’s not nearly as intense, but it’s pervasive and makes life hard to enjoy.

As you are going to learn in the following steps, there are potentially many contributing factors that cause both panic and anxiety. From poor thoughts, to your upbringing and people you surround yourself with, lack of sleep and what you eat, to mineral deficits  — all of these things can contribute to or be the direct cause of your panic and anxiety.

Now, let’s begin, starting of course, with step one…

Step 1: Take Responsibility For Changing Yourself

For some years I felt that my panic attacks controlled me. I didn’t know why I experienced them and most of the time I tried to ignore the fact that I had them.

It was as if I was unconscious to my own condition, yet clearly, I didn’t want to experience panic.

It wasn’t until I concluded that yes I was having panic attacks and I had to do something to help myself, that I finally began the work to get better.

More recently, with my ‘fried nerves’ anxiety while traveling in the USA, I once again had to accept that something was off, and commit to finding and applying a solution.

Once I made the choice to do the work to understand the cause of my condition and make the changes necessary to help myself, things finally started to get better. Not instantly of course, but the journey begins with your first step.

Acceptance of your condition and assuming responsibility for it, even if you believe someone else is making you feel or live in a certain way, is the only way to begin your path to recovery.

It’s amazing how long you can suffer from a problem purely because you don’t want to face it, accept it, and take responsibility for helping yourself. Ignoring something won’t make it go away if you continue the behaviors that trigger the problem.

This is especially true for conditions deeply rooted in fear. The act of accepting your fears is an act of facing them, which in itself is scary. It might feel safer to ignore and run away from these fears, but like everything in life, what you resist, persists.

One of the incredible things I noticed about my own panic attacks is that they seemed to grow if I tried to ‘fight’ them. When I riled against the emotions, they grew stronger. Yet, if I decided to turn towards the fear and let the emotion express itself — to feel the feelings without fighting them — they always became weaker.

The awareness to not fight and run, and instead acknowledge and attempt to let the emotions pass through me, was a powerful mindset shift for dealing with panic. As I got better at this I began to dissipate potential panic attacks before they could happen because I didn’t fight them.

Your first job is to accept what you are going through, take responsibility for being the source of your own cure (no one else can), and not fight or ignore the uncomfortable feelings, but instead give them permission to exist and pass on.

Step 2: Manage Your Body

If you’re an anxious person I’m sure you agree with me when I say that you feel a lot worse when you haven’t slept well, you’re hungry or thirsty, or you haven’t done exercise for a while.

I remember many of my friends in university would sacrifice sleep and eat poorly because they wanted to party and have fun, or had to stay up late to finish writing a paper just before a deadline.

I couldn’t fathom this because, without sleep and food, I wouldn’t have much fun, no matter what I was doing. My ability to focus on researching and writing papers would also drop significantly on poor sleep and nutrition, making the process even harder than it already was!

Everyone has a different physical constitution, but we all need sleep, food, water, and exercise to keep our bodies performing. Even if you think you can ‘go without’ and still perform well, that’s not a pattern you can continue for long.

As a person who is suffering anxiety or panic attacks (or possibly both), managing your body is even more important. Your brain requires sleep to keep all your physiological functions operating correctly. You need good nutrition so your body has access to all the minerals it needs to operate.

I believe a lot of anxiety and panic attacks are caused by, or at least impacted significantly by, poor nutrition, lack of regular sleep and mineral deficiencies. In fact, as you will see coming up, one of the biggest causes of my anxiety was lack of a key mineral in my body, something I would never have even considered a problem when I was younger.

For some people, managing your body and starting up new positive habits like eating more vegetables, getting eight hours of sleep a night, and exercising on a daily basis, will lead to significant improvement. You may even cure your anxiety and panic just with these steps.

There may be more you have to do to recover, as was the case for me, but making sure you are managing your physical state is a powerful positive step forward, giving you a platform for full recovery, not to mention much better health overall.

This is a BASIC step. If you ignore it, much of the rest of my advice will be hindered simply by your poor physiological condition. It’s like trying to win a race by tying your legs together.

Thankfully, this is a basic step, which means I know you can do it. It will take some discipline to make better choices about what you eat, in particular saying no to foods like sugar, dairy, wheat, alcohol and pretty much everything processed, but I’d argue, what’s more important to you — drinking a coke or never having anxiety and panic again?

Regarding Sleep: I realize for anxious people sleep can be tricky. It feels like a catch-22 sometimes when you are told to get enough sleep, that in itself makes you anxious about sleeping, and then you can’t!

I’ve been there.

I still have trouble sleeping when something is bothering me or I’ve mistreated my mind or body with poor thoughts or nutrition. This is why exercise and good food and lots of water is so important, it makes sleeping easier, which completes the picture of looking after your body.

I’ll write more about some supplements I sometimes take for aiding sleep in an upcoming step, and we’re about to deal with ‘unhelpful thinking’ next.

What I can suggest now is that Chamomile tea will help you fall asleep and caffeine will have the opposite effect. Swap your coffee for this tea and you will sleep better.

For some people, this step will be one of the hardest. Making the choice to change your eating, drinking and sleeping habits, especially if you are addicted to certain foods and drinks (which most of us are!), will be like trying to get off a drug.

I recommend you try one of two paths –

Cold Turkey: Completely change everything for 30 days minimum. Get clear on what you should cut and add to your diet and make all the changes at once. For some, this ‘all-in��� method works and is certainly the quickest path to get better. After 30 days you can reintroduce some of your old favorites occasionally, but you may find you won’t want to anymore.

Incremental Elimination: If the Cold Turkey method is too much to change at once, make one change at a time for 30 days. Don’t drink alcohol for a month, cut all dairy from your diet for a month, get at least 8 hours of sleep a night for a month, etc. At the end of 30 days you should find it much easier to keep up the change, so you can begin another 30 day challenge, slowly altering your diet one month at a time. This is easier and far less overwhelming, but obviously a much slower path.

If you struggle or fail to change your diet and sleeping habits, don’t give up. This is a lifestyle change that will completely revolutionize your life — forever! Hence you owe it to yourself to keep working on it for as long as it takes.

Step 3: Monitor Conversations With Yourself

While taking responsibility for your recovery and managing your body are vital first steps towards curing your anxiety and panic, I can say that in terms of impact on my life, this third step has had a more profound change than anything else.

This goes way beyond just helping with my panic attacks and anxiety. I believe working on my thoughts is responsible for how much money I have made, romantic encounters, my physical health and all around happiness than anything else.

Looking back now, I see my experience with panic attacks as a push towards evolving my way of thinking and perceiving the world, to reconstruct my ‘lens’ on life to create the outcomes I desire.

Of course, before any of this happened, the first thing I had to deal with was panic attacks.

It all began with the help of two books and a person…

Living With It: A Survivor’s Guide To Panic Attacks by Bev Aisbett

Learned Optimism by Dr. Martin Seligman

My Mother

Bev Aisbett’s book was most helpful while I was very much in the middle of regular panic attacks. The book is not a miracle cure, but I really enjoyed the illustrations and the core idea I took away from it gave me an important step towards recovery.

To put it simply, Bev taught me not to fight the panic, but to see it as a cartoon monster following me around. She offers a gentle starting point to help you realize how much of your fear comes from your own negative and often irrational thoughts about life situations.

This was the doorway to studying my own interpretation of the world. It helped me feel that panic attacks were not something that was out of my control. Quite the contrary, I was very much in control because I was the one who created all these vicious circles of negativity that led to panic attacks in the first place.

For me, the big step forward here was empowerment. I felt responsible for what was happening, which meant I could change it. It wasn’t going to be easy, but at least it was in my hands!

Learned Optimism from Psychologist Dr. Martin Seligman took this idea of choosing how to interpret the world to a whole new level.

Dr. Seligman is the founder of a methodology called ‘Positive Psychology‘. What I enjoyed about his book was how he used experiments to show that mental models drive our reactions to life and very much dictate our happiness.

Here are some of the ideas I took away from his book that helped me deal with panic attacks:

Optimists live longer, make more money and have happier relationships than pessimists.

You are born with a natural predisposition to be somewhere on a scale between highly optimistic and highly pessimistic. Your environment, in particular, your parents demonstrating optimism or pessimism, will also impact what your default view of the world is.

Optimists see negative events in their life as one-offs, non-permanent, and likely to get better in the future. Pessimists see negative events as a reflection of permanent conditions they cannot change, so things will always be the same.

Optimists are actually fooling themselves. They are actively making decisions to interpret reality in a way that benefits them. Pessimists are more rational when it comes to how things really are, but that often leads to poor outcomes despite how ‘accurate’ it might be (would you rather be accurate or happy?).

My big takeaway from all of these ideas is that I had the power to choose how I see the world, and there was clearly a better choice.

The last piece of the puzzle came from my mother. She gave me the practical steps I needed to begin implementing change, starting with the most important activity:

Monitor your thoughts.

She helped me to switch on my self-awareness, in particular, to begin the practice of monitoring how I ‘spoke to myself’ in my head.

It was difficult at first to switch on this awareness as I was often more lost in my thoughts, letting them run wild.

After day one of my mindfulness practice, I came to a huge realization: I was a pessimist.

I spent most of the day inside my head picking apart things I didn’t like about myself, or reacting badly to what someone said or did or did not do. It was unbelievable how negative I was in my mind and what I chose to focus so much of my energy on.

Your task for this step is to activate your awareness. Monitor your thoughts for a day and become mindful of how you interpret the world. You may be surprised to learn you’re not the most cheerful person inside your head, but that’s okay, we’re going to change that next.

Step 4: Change The Conversation With Yourself

Although I didn’t realize it at the time, my mother was applying Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) to help me deal with panic attacks. CBT is a psychotherapy in which negative patterns of thought about yourself and the world are challenged in order to alter unwanted conditions.

If you look hard enough, you will find CBT has its roots in Stoic Philosophy, first practiced in ancient Greece.

The stoics apply a simple idea to life:

Be indifferent to the vicissitudes of fortune and to pleasure and pain.

In other words, don’t react to the good or the bad, as they are both fleeting, just as life itself is.

Stoicism provides a fantastic base to build from. When you gain the power to NOT react, you give yourself the space — the awareness — to choose how you want to react.

CBT teaches you to first monitor your thoughts and then choose a positive response. Martin Seligman conducted plenty of research to back this up, so it’s not just anecdotal advice.

Thanks to my mother and book studies, the path to recovery was clear to me. I had to monitor my thoughts, discard the negative by realizing that I was choosing to see things this way, and then make a choice to see things in a positive way.

In Neuro Linguistic Programming, this is called Reframing — altering your perception so reality takes on a different meaning.

As easy as it is for me to explain all this to you now, coming to this realization took many months and it took many more months to practice it.

At the time I experienced panic attacks, I felt pretty down about life in general. The thought of proactively practicing reframing my thoughts made me feel tired. I just wanted to give up.

The one ‘benefit’ of panic attacks, is that they are so intense they push you to make changes to stop them. This was definitely the case for me. Although I felt tired and down on life, there was no way I was going to continue to live with panic attacks – they were horrible!

And so I began to change my thoughts… very slowly.

I recall sitting in one of my lecture theaters near the back of the room before the class started. It was micro or macro economics — I can’t recall — not my favorite subjects, but at least the class was full of pretty girls.

I looked up to my left and locked eyes with a girl I had seen in many of my classes. She instantly looked down, breaking eye contact.

My immediate thought — she doesn’t like me.

Then more thoughts…

She finds me unattractive and doesn’t want to give me any indication that she likes me. My clothes are terrible. I’m too skinny, no girl will ever like me. I’ll be single and alone my entire life. This is the reaction I always get when I look at a girl… how will I ever get the confidence to even talk to one!?

As you can see, not exactly a shining example of positivity.

This negative thought response to a simple event in my life would carry forward throughout my day. I’d criticize myself, feel like nothing will ever change and create negative stories around how people react to me.

One day, something different happened.

After spending hours and hours in negative thought spirals, I stopped myself.

I forced myself to see my thoughts as made up stories — which they were! — and instead to make up better stories.

I didn’t really believe my new stories at first, but at least I wasn’t focusing on the negative thought patterns.

For example, rather than see a girl looking away in response to our eyes locking as an indication of disinterest, I reframed the story. I told myself that she looked down because she was shy. She actually liked me, and that was why she was looking at me in the first place.

I told myself that she looked down because she was shy. She actually liked me, and that was why she was looking at me in the first place.

Any story could be true, so why not choose the empowering option?

I also reframed stories about my future. No longer would anything negative be an indication of what will happen forever. Instead, I decided to see it as a once off. If I kept trying, surely I would get a different result, especially if I learned and improved over time.

This was the daily practice I slowly introduced into my life. It wasn’t easy because I was going against years and years of habitual thought patterns. However, by first becoming aware of the conversation in my head, then proactively working to change it, I began to make progress.

Now it’s your turn. You’ve already done the previous step and spent time monitoring your thoughts. Next, it’s time to begin altering them to represent what you want from your life.

Step 5: Reduce Your Reframe Time

Being mindful is a practice.

If you have never tried it before, which was the case for me, you will find yourself defaulting to your habits over and over again.

At first, I found it empowering just to realize I had thought-habits. Prior to this, I lived within the habits, the negative thought patterns. Now I could step outside them and see them for what they were.

As I began to proactively work to change my thought-response, it became clear like all skills, practice was required.

Initially, I’d spend hours lost in bad thoughts, reacting negatively to events, then finally I’d stop myself and reframe my perceptions to create new, more empowering meaning.

Day-by-day, week-by-week, and month-by-month, I improved my thought-change response time. What previously took me hours, would require only an hour, then thirty minutes, then ten minutes, to stop my thoughts and reframe them.

Then one day something magical happened.

I had a negative thought and instantly stopped and changed it.

It all happened in a split second. I interpreted something that just happened to me, for example, a customer asking for a refund from my business, and instead of using that as fuel for a negative thought train, I instantly reframed.

“Customer refunds are rare, I’ll get more customers in the future, everything is going great. Let’s get back to work!” …is what I told myself.

It seems crazy-simple. This cognitive switch is just a matter of changing your mind, which can happen in an instant, yet for so many years I didn’t do it.

I had to literally practice this for months, every day reminding myself that thinking right was the pathway to feeling right.

I became so focused on mastering and re-engineering my thoughts, I didn’t realize that my panic attacks were starting to go away.

The attacks didn’t completely disappear immediately. There were still times of weakness, especially when I was physically less than optimal because I had not slept enough or missed a meal.

However, because I gained power over my thoughts, I was able to use that power when I felt a panic attack coming along. I could tell myself not to resist the panic, to remind myself that the feeling of panic will go away.

Eventually I got so powerful in my mind, on the rare occasion I felt panic rising, I could simply make the choice — “I am not going to have a panic attack” — and my body would instantly respond, like a soldier being told what to do by a superior, and the panic feeling would evaporate.

The mind-muscle I developed, this power over irrational fear, gave me a sense of confidence I had never felt before.

My ability to reframe my interpretations and thoughts, while at first used to cure panic attacks, turned into a tool I used to go after things I wanted in my life. This article is not the place to review how I set and achieve goals, but it’s important you understand that the skillset you are learning here is applicable to your entire life.

I promise you, if you practice mindfulness and positive reframing, and do so wholeheartedly as a daily ongoing activity, not only will your panic attacks start to go away, you may find your entire life changing in amazing ways.

Step 6: Change Your Beliefs To Master Emotion

When I first began the process of monitoring my thoughts and reframing them into positive interpretations of life events, I often felt like I was trying to fool myself.

My emotions were telling me the opposite of what I was trying to convince myself to think. I felt bad and no amount of better storytelling in my mind seemed to help.

This led to an important question…

Were my thoughts controlling my emotions, or were my emotions controlling my thoughts?

This question has led to scientific experiments, caused books to be written, and countless discussions to occur.

The answer seems to lie somewhere in the middle. Both your thoughts and emotions interact and influence each other. However, our experience of emotion is much stronger than our experience of thought, so we tend to react much more to how we feel than how we think.

I initially struggled to implement thought reframing because I was trying to change the words in my head to positive when my feelings were negative.

This is when things got interesting…

There was one other ingredient I had not considered yet:

My beliefs.

It turns out that our feelings are really controlled by our beliefs. What we believe about our life is what we tend to feel.

In particular, what we believe about our future tends to dictate our happiness. If we believe our future is full of good things, we are happy in the present working towards them. If we don’t believe there are good things coming, then we are sad, depressed, angry and frustrated.

The truly powerful insight is this…

Our beliefs are once again choices we have made about how to interpret things.

If I believe a girl looking at me then looking away is because I am ugly and no girl will ever find me attractive, then I am sad because I believe my future will be lonely.

If on the other hand, I believe a girl looking at me and then looking away is because she finds me attractive, then I believe my future may include a romantic encounter with this girl, I am happy in the present.

Once again, the power lies in our interpretation, our perception of events.

Not only do you have to change how you think, you also have to change what you believe, if you are to attain emotional congruency (emotions supporting the changes you want).

…And therein lies the true secret, the true power to overcome your panic attacks, your anxiety and attaining anything in life you desire…

You must align your thoughts, feelings and beliefs so you experience complete congruency about what you want.

Experiencing true belief is a challenge if you have not had the experience to reinforce that belief.

This is why belief, at its core, is faith. To believe means to have faith that something will change even if you have never experienced that change before.

In the case of curing my panic attacks, my faith came from one idea: My rational conclusion that what the books taught me and my mother said, made sense.

I believed that the process of changing my thoughts through mindfulness and reframing (CBT/NLP/STOICISM) would make my panic attacks go away because there were countless examples of it working for other people. It seemed logical to me, especially after I discovered how pessimistic my thoughts were up to that point.

In later years, as I continued to practice reframing, I came to realize for some changes I wanted to make in my life, to truly believe, to have faith, required a spiritual component.

In this article, we’re not going to dive into the spiritual component. All you really need is belief in the process, the science and the results others have experienced, to believe the steps I am sharing with you work.

Trust your rational mind and put into action what I am teaching you here, and I’m confident you can overcome any negative feelings because you believe that it works. If you have to believe in me as the source of this information, by all means, go for it, but I’d rather you believe in the power of the ideas than any one individual.

Remember that the best source of belief comes from practical results. If you implement my advice here in this article and you notice your panic attacks becoming less frequent, that’s going to give you the belief you need. It won’t be long before you are cured.

Step 7: Vitamins And Minerals

When anxiety hit me in recent years, I wasn’t sure what to make of it initially.

I’d just been through a tough period in my life. My mother spent two years in hospital after having a stroke. I was bedside with her most days before she passed on. After this, I moved to Melbourne and lived there for a year, before traveling overseas.

As I mentioned earlier, I don’t like flying so much, but the desire to travel is stronger than my fear. I managed a few uncomfortable hours on planes so I could see Hong Kong, Tokyo, Vancouver, San Diego and then live in San Francisco.

My anxiety during this period seemed to escape from the plane trips and came with me as I explored these new cities.

At first, it wasn’t too bad, but as I continued to travel, the worse it became. I wasn’t having panic attacks, but I felt a strong sense of nerves, of consistent anxiety that would last for hours at a time.

I came close to a couple of panic attacks, but using my mind-training I was able to stop them. What I couldn’t figure out though, was why the anxiety was so persistent.

I still felt strong in the mind, so I didn’t think the cause was the same as fifteen years ago when I had panic attacks.

During a terrible night in San Francisco with heart palpitations that kept me awake all night, I received help from an unexpected source.

I was dating a girl in Australia before I left. While I was in the USA I talked to her online explaining my problems with anxiety. She did something I should have done weeks before, but I was so caught up in the anxiety I never did (I hadn’t fully accepted I had a problem)…

She went online and did research.

Her conclusion was that I probably had a mineral deficiency, in particular, I was likely lacking in magnesium.

I read the articles she shared with me and did my own research. The science was compelling.

Because of modern farming practices, our soil is depleted of vital minerals. Even if you eat a healthy diet full of vegetables, which I do, you can still be deficient in many minerals, including magnesium.

I am a voracious consumer of dark chocolate, with high cocoa content. In Australia, I also frequently drank raw cocoa in my smoothies. Cocoa is high in magnesium, so I was surprised this could be a problem.

After that terrible night in San Francisco, I was about as on edge as possible. I hadn’t slept, I had put my body through anxiety all night, so about all I could do that day was a very slow walk to the nearest Whole Foods Market to buy myself some magnesium supplements.

Magnesium helps keep blood pressure normal, bones strong, and the heart rhythm steady. I was impressed to read stories from doctors who immediately put people who had irregular heart beats on intravenous magnesium. Given the heart palpitations I had the previous night, that sounded good to me!

If you’re interested in more of the medical science, here’s a small excerpt from the National Institutes Of Health in the USA –

Magnesium is a cofactor in more than 300 enzyme systems that regulate diverse biochemical reactions in the body, including protein synthesis, muscle and nerve function, blood glucose control, and blood pressure regulation. Magnesium is required for energy production, oxidative phosphorylation, and glycolysis. It contributes to the structural development of bone and is required for the synthesis of DNA, RNA, and the antioxidant glutathione. Magnesium also plays a role in the active transport of calcium and potassium ions across cell membranes, a process that is important to nerve impulse conduction, muscle contraction, and normal heart rhythm.

You can read more here: http://bit.ly/2GBRXrJ

My research suggested a glycinate magnesium was best because it was more easily absorbed by the body and less likely to cause a laxative effect when taken in high dosages.

I found magnesium in the Noe Valley Whole Foods in San Francisco, and immediately gave myself a big dosage – about 1,000mg, although I was told I could push that up to 2,000 if I wanted to short term.

I felt the impact immediately.

The best way I can describe the change was a sense of relaxation coming over me within 30 minutes, sometimes instantly, of taking magnesium.

Since that day back in San Francisco, I take 200mg to 1,000mg of magnesium per day. No other supplement has made such an obvious difference to my life.

The magnesium supplement was enough to ‘take me away from the edge’ in terms of anxiety and nerves. I was able to sleep again and slowly started to feel normal.

However, I wasn’t quite there yet. I would still get bouts of excessive nerves that lasted hours, frequently in response to eating dark chocolate with green tea (possibly the caffeine in the tea or theobromine in the chocolate was too stimulating – or the combination). I was pretty upset that my good friend dark chocolate could cause this, so I realized I needed more help.

I was also having indigestion problems (gas, bloating, cramps), so I figured the smart thing to do was head to a nutritionist doctor, who could get all my food sensitivities tested and also look into the anxiety.

The doctor sent me off to donate about 12 vials of blood, a cup of urine and send some saliva in the mail, to get a comprehensive look at the following…

Full bloodwork for the things like Cholesterol, Sodium, Potassium, Calcium, and all the usual elements that are found in our bodies to see if anything was out of normal range

Thyroid test to make sure my hormone levels are in range since they can impact anxiety

White and red blood cells, iron, and a whole bunch of related blood indicators to again see if they are in normal range

Vitamin D, D2 and D3 since they can impact mood

Cortisol levels in the morning, noon, evening and night to see if adrenals are out of whack (this is what the saliva test you send in the mail is for)

Neurohormones like Serotonin, Dopamine, Glutamate, Epinephrine, and Gaba to check on brain health (if you’re low or high in these it can be responsible for anxiety, fatigue, difficulty sleeping, and just not being happy!)

Plus a large ranging food sensitivities test to see what foods trigger an immune response in my body

I’d never done such a comprehensive test before, so I was curious what the results would be.

My best guess was that the constant anxiety with all the travels had drained my adrenal glands.

The theory behind adrenal fatigue is that your adrenal glands can’t keep up with the demands of perpetual fight-or-flight arousal caused by stress. As a result, they struggle to produce enough of the hormones you need to feel good.

I don’t have the space to review all my test results here (I have over 10 pages of printouts!), but the short answer is that nearly everything was in range.

My cortisol levels and brain hormones levels were a bit low, but not as bad as the doctor expected. This did, however, give us a direction for treatment.

My food sensitivities were another matter. I was shocked at what was going on with my digestive system. Again, I don’t have the space to review the diet changes I eventually went on here in this article, but I will no doubt cover them in a future article.

The doctor recommended a supplement regime geared to help with anxiety and nerves. Here is a summary, along with notes on how much impact each supplement had (obviously seek advice from a medical professional before you take anything as your body is different to mine, I especially recommend you get the appropriate tests done first).

L-Theanine (Dosage: 1 capsule twice a day with meals, then as needed in times of stress)

This by far helped me the most with anxiety and also sleeping. I noticed the impact straight away after initially using it daily to deal with the ongoing nerves and the on edge feeling. After about a week of daily dosage, I switched to taking it ‘as needed’. More recently I have taken it only as a sleep aid very rarely.

Relora Plus: A mix of B vitamins (1 capsule twice a day with meals, then as needed in times of stress)

This one helps balance cortisol and DHEA levels and supports a positive mood by helping to reduce anxiety. I didn’t notice quite the same immediate impact as L-Theanine had, however, a year later I had another blood test and I was still a little low on B vitamins, so I still take B supplements today.

Melatonin (1 capsule a day in new time zones when traveling)

My dad has long been a proponent of Melatonin for jetlag. I never tried it, but after speaking to this particular naturopathic doctor, I started to use it for jetlag and occasionally help with sleep if Magnesium and L-Theanine don’t get me there.

5 HTP (1 capsule as required for headaches or poor mood)

My friend Olena Beley from PopThePimple.com got me on to this one. 5-Hydroxytryptophan, also known as oxitriptan, is a naturally occurring amino acid and chemical precursor to the neurotransmitter serotonin – that all important happiness brain chemical, which I was low on in my tests.

I take this rarely, usually if I feel a headache coming on, but it sure is effective. It also has the added benefit of making you just feel better, which obviously helps with anxiety or feelings of depression. I wouldn’t want to take this as a daily supplement though, it feels like something you could become a little dependent on.

I began taking Vitamin D3 (especially when I was in Canada where the sun isn’t high enough during the colder months to give us the Vitamin D we need) and Vitamin C for all around immune support.

I also started taking a range of other supplements related to digestion and immune support, which I will cover in a future article.

One word of warning: After the doctor prescribed my supplement regime, I found myself suddenly taking over 20 pills a day! (this was just my initial short-term treatment). At first, it was great at helping with the anxiety, but within a week I had some pretty epic diarrhoea, which was not fun!

When I went back to the doctor for my follow up appointment and told her what was going on, she immediately dropped my dosages to mostly on an ‘as needed’ basis, which is how I use the anxiety supplements today.

I still take Magnesium, Vitamin D and C daily, Vitamin B12 regularly and a few other digestion and immune related supplements.

One important thing to consider here is that all of the supplements I have mentioned are over the counter, non-prescription vitamins (except melatonin, which can be a prescription medication in some countries). That’s as far as I know anyway, it might be different in your country.

I’ve been able to buy them all in pharmacies and grocery stores in America, Canada, and Europe during my travels.

I’m not a medical professional so take my advice here as you will… but I have to say I like vitamin supplements a whole lot more than the ‘strong’ drugs you might get prescribed from everyday doctors, like antidepressants and beta-blockers, which can be addictive, don’t treat the cause, only the symptoms… and then create a whole new set of symptoms!

That’s why I went to a Naturopathic Doctor, someone who has a holistic view of treatment and focuses on helping the body to heal itself. In particular, I was looking for advice on food and mineral supplementation, so I needed a doctor who values that kind of treatment.

I believe a combination of mindset training, nutrition management (you are what you eat and drink) and vitamin supplementation are the best cure and also the best PREVENTION to problems, and anxiety is no different.

Of course, there is a time for medical intervention too, you should access all the resources you can to get better, just make sure you don’t skip the obvious – your body is a machine that requires good fuel to function properly!

I should also mention before I wrap up this section that part of my diet changes included a reduction or elimination of things like sugars, gluten, dairy, and processed foods. I never drink coffee or alcohol or do recreational drugs, which has been the case my whole life.

I eat vegetables, some lean meat and fish, nuts, lots of dark chocolate (my one vice when it comes to sugar), and drink plenty of water. I do break the eating rules from time to time, especially because I travel so much and there are so many good things to try, but overall I am pretty strict with what I put into my body.

Normally these sorts of diet changes are not considered a treatment for anxiety, but they really are. As I mentioned earlier, your anxiety and/or panic attacks could disappear simply because you give your body proper nutrition, so why not at least try making these changes and see what happens?

You can’t get around the nutrition issue. Take action and change what you put in your body if you truly want to cure your anxiety and panic, not to mention most other problems (depression, fatigue, lack of focus, lack of motivation, skin conditions, weight gain…and the list goes on!).

Step 8: Do Work That Gives You Meaning

Have you ever done something you enjoy so much that time just disappears?

It might be something creative, like painting or writing or knitting, or a physical activity like playing tennis, or rock climbing, or even having sex. It could be driving a car, designing a building, cooking a meal or delivering a lecture.

This experience of lost time is commonly called being in ‘flow’ or ‘flow state’. You’ve probably heard the phrase she is in the flow when for example, a dancer is performing on stage or a baseball pitcher is striking everyone out.

We are all capable of being in this state. I’m confident you have already experienced it at some point in your life.

I came to an interesting realization when I began looking at what activities lead to flow state for me…

I never experience anxiety while in flow.

I realized that quite frequently anxiety in my life was linked to things the opposite of flow.

I’d get anxious when I forced myself to do things I didn’t want to do. I’d get anxious thinking about my future and not being sure what I was ‘meant to do with my life’. I’d get anxious thinking I was falling behind my friends because they seemed to be so sure of their direction and I was not.

As I began to look deeper into when I was most happy in my life, I realized it all came down to one thing…

Purpose.

When I had a purpose, the work I did towards my goal gave me meaning. This in turn led to more flow states, better creative output, and thus more overall happiness.

Whenever these things were absent, I was more likely to feel depressed or anxious.

It’s easy for me to write this now because I know very clearly what my purpose is and what creative tasks give me joy. I’ve constructed a lifestyle designed specifically to support my purpose, so I am rewarded for following it, both intrinsically and financially.

However, go back 15 years and I was lost, really lost.

I didn’t know what my purpose was, I wasn’t sure what I was good at or meant to do, and up to that point, I had spent a lot of time doing things I didn’t enjoy, like studying subjects at school and university I didn’t care about.

On top of this, I had no money, no girlfriend, and no potential career path. I was a ship lost at sea!

Unfortunately, there was no instant breakthrough for me. I didn’t just wake up one day with clarity about my purpose.

If, as you read this, you feel I could be describing your life too, I have some good news, there is an answer.

For many of us, figuring out your purpose is a process. It’s not a moment in time, it’s an ongoing experience. Experience is the tool we use to figure out our purpose.

And here is one of the most powerful mindset reframes to help you find your purpose when you feel lost…

Make discovering your purpose your purpose.

This won’t be your purpose forever of course, but if you treat the search, the process of experiencing various things, conducting ‘life experiments’ like a scientist to help you discover your purpose, you will find the meaning you are looking for.

It’s important you have patience and don’t compare yourself to others. Some people know what they are meant to do from a young age, others spend their entire life exploring different purposes.

If on the other hand, right now you are very clear what your purpose is, you know what activities give you meaning and flow, then you owe it to yourself to devote your energy to constructing a life designed to support this purpose.

Don’t put off your purpose because you feel you have to be responsible to other people or pressures that society is placing on you. You always have the power to make choices. Some choices lead towards your purpose, others take you away.

I’m not talking about dropping everything in your life to suddenly become a musician, or artist, or entrepreneur (unless that’s what you want to do!). If you have family members that need looking after, debts that need to be paid, or health matters that must be addressed, these things must factor into your choices too.

However, there are always choices you can make that will create opportunities to explore your purpose more frequently.

You can choose to work a part time job so you have time to work on your music or business

You can choose instead of watching Netflix for a couple of hours each night, to work on writing your novel

You can choose to move to a country where the cost of living is lower, so you can quit the job you don’t like and focus on your blog or podcast

You can choose to get up an hour or two earlier, so you can practice your dance routine

There are always options. It’s your fear that stops you from making decisions that might ultimately make you happier in the long run.

Do You Have To Make Money From Your Purpose?

Not every person has a purpose that directly translates into income.

If the potential is there for you to profit from your creativity, then you have the opportunity to live what many people consider a dream – getting paid to do what you love.

However, you shouldn’t feel that your purpose must somehow result in making money. Maybe it will, maybe it won’t.

If you see opportunities and you like the idea of earning money from something you love, then open the doors that lead to that outcome.

What is most important, especially when it comes to your happiness (and thus helping with anxiety and depression), is figuring out what leads to flow state for you, and then making changes to your life that allow you to enter flow state more frequently.

As Joseph Campbell famously wrote, “Follow your bliss“.

BILL MOYERS: Do you ever have the sense of… being helped by hidden hands?

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: All the time. It is miraculous. I even have a superstition that has grown on me as a result of invisible hands coming all the time – namely, that if you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.

Source: http://bit.ly/2srt3jx

Step 9: Get Off The Rollercoaster

You lose a job, your boyfriend dumps you, you get into a car accident, your product launch fails, your pet dies, you break a nail…

Life has a habit of throwing a range of experiences at you that you don’t see coming.

The ancient stoics had an interesting way of interpreting what we would call ‘bad events’. Rather than instantly label them as bad and letting your thoughts and feelings turn negative, instead look at these events as tools for growth.

The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.

  — Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor

Once again, perception is key. Events happen, you decide how you react. A bad thing is only bad if you decide it is.

Marcus Aurelius, famous founding father of Stoic Philosophy, reveals a dichotomy in life that at first can be very hard to see.

The seeds of your greatest growth opportunities, come from your greatest challenges.

As modern day author Ryan Holiday aptly titled his book on Stoicism, The Obstacle Is The Way.

As an anxious person who may be experiencing panic attacks, who defaults to negative frameworks, adopting this philosophy is a challenge. However, that challenge shows you the pathway to change.

During a very dark period for me when I was experiencing panic attacks and feeling very depressed, I went online looking for the answer to a big question…

What is the meaning of life?

To find the answer, I typed the question into Google.

The search results lead me to a series of philosophic articles that helped shape what would become my default way of seeing the world.

To put it simply, I decided to get off the rollercoaster.

Life can easily feel like a rollercoaster of events. You a get a new job, then you break up with your girlfriend. Your bicycle gets stolen, then you book an overseas holiday. You get the flu, then you recover from the flu!

These ups and downs continue throughout your entire life. No one escapes.

I made the decision to simply see events as events, and then decide how best to respond to them, based on what I wanted for my life. I knew that both the good and the bad would pass, and I decided what was good and bad.

I am also careful to work within the conditions I face in any given moment.

When I am less than optimal, missing sleep, unwell, hungry, going through challenging periods, I make the choice to be gentle with myself.

I focus on the basics, get good sleep, eat healthy, and do my best to see the positive. I temporarily reduce my expectations and work in maintenance mode until I feel things improve.

When I feel strong, when events turn in a direction I desire, when anxiety and panic left, I reach for more. I challenge myself to do what I fear, I set bigger goals, I take risks, do things I previously was afraid to do.

There’s a time to treat yourself with kindness, and there is a time to push yourself forward because you have a strong base to jump from.

Life can feel out of control if you instantly react to whatever is happening without any conscious thought to how you want to respond. The power comes from the space between the event and your reaction. Find that space and you will find peace.

Step 10: The Destination Is Guaranteed, So Relax

When I was very young, under five years old, I remember waking up in the mornings contemplating my own death.

That time just after waking up was strange for me because I wasn’t sure where I had just been. It was like I didn’t exist anymore while sleeping, then I woke up and I did. This made me think about dying and what it was like to ‘not exist’ on a potentially permanent basis.

This thought as a young boy was at first terrifying, but also incomprehensible. I couldn’t use what I had — my mind and body — to understand what it was like when these things are gone.

As I grew older, I came to a set of beliefs about death, which have significantly changed how I view life.

Death is the only thing in life that is guaranteed to occur. Everyone gets a turn.

You might not know when, or how, but you know for sure you will get to experience this aspect of life transforming.

Accepting my death became one of the core tenets of how I overcame anxiety and panic.

Whilst in the middle of panic attacks, I began thinking a mantra to myself over and over again…

“This too will pass.”

This mantra is a powerful one that people often use for anything in life that is uncomfortable, undesirable or unpleasant.

After you have a few panic attacks, you really do understand through experience that they will actually pass, but I took the ethos of this mantra further.

Knowing that I was going to die became the ultimate “this too will pass” because it will, I will pass on. There is nothing I experience while alive that will continue forever.

I feel I should mention at this point that I was not having suicidal thoughts. I’m also not suggesting you should contemplate killing yourself as a means to stop anxiety and panic, regardless of how horrible they can be at times. My desire for you is to do what I did and use the steps in this article to recover.

Once I fully embraced my own impending departure from life as we know it, I came to a very powerful conclusion:

If nothing in life is permanent, why on earth was I spending so much time making my present so unpleasant!?

To put it simply, death made me relax.

I realized I was giving so much value and energy to so many thoughts about things and people that didn’t deserve that kind of attention. I owed it to myself to use what time I had in a more productive manner.

It’s a unique mindset, but truly accepting the ultimate destination, makes you appreciate the journey that much more.

You Chose This Experience For A Reason

The ten steps I have just outlined to you will change your life. Living through them certainly changed mine.

I’d like to leave you with one powerful idea as I wrap up this guide:

What you are currently experiencing with panic or anxiety or depression or whatever challenge you face today, is something you chose for a reason.

I know this can be hard to hear. The idea that you self-selected to go through pain, fear, sadness, or any negative experience, whilst in the middle of experiencing it, is difficult to accept.

If someone said this to me while in the middle of a panic attack, I think I would have felt like punching them in the face.

I certainly did NOT want to experience what I was experiencing.

Despite this, there was a part of me that knew what I was going through was happening for a greater purpose. The knowing of it only grew the longer I experienced and then worked to eliminate anxiety and panic attacks from my life.

Much of the success in life I have enjoyed was on some level born from the mindset changes I went through and outlined in this article.

If I didn’t study positive psychology, if I didn’t practice mindfulness, if I didn’t learn how to reframe my perceptions and ‘get off the rollercoaster’, I doubt I would have been able to build a million dollar business, or travel the world for years at a time, or meet the people and have all the wonderful experiences I have enjoyed.

However, what is most important to me, is the fact that this guide you are reading now couldn’t exist if I didn’t live through what I lived through with anxiety and panic.

I would not be able to help you and potentially millions of other people through the internet to overcome anxiety and panic attacks, if I didn’t myself have the experience of them.

The joy and value I get knowing that this article will lead to some relief in your life, that it will help you to help yourself gain control and a pathway forward to emerge from your own fears and negative thoughts and eventually recover from anxiety and panic, is the greatest reward.

Beyond this, I believe that the skills I am teaching you here will help you improve other aspects of your life. You may start your own business, become a leader in your field, meet the love of your life, or simply be happier because you learn to see the positive instead of the negative. These ripple effects go well beyond my possible comprehension, and I love that.

You in turn may go on to teach others, sharing your story of recovery, and further spreading messages that will ultimately make the world a better place.

Helping each other is what we are here to do. Although this may be hard to believe now, if you can see your own suffering today merely as a step towards something incredibly positive — a chance to eventually help others — you are on the way to recovery.

This is truly what Marcus Aurelius was talking about. What blocks your path today, lights the way for millions more tomorrow.

I don’t believe in coincidences. I don’t believe you discovered this article by accident, in fact I believe I wrote it specifically for you.

Now it’s your turn, it’s time to make positive changes.

Yaro

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7 Ways to Beat Stress and Boost Happiness

Stress has become a part of our daily lives and can never be completely avoided. It is a normal reaction of both people and animals to various uncomfortable and difficult situations. As we feel tensed, our bodies release chemicals and hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. These substances keep our bodies alert and ready to face danger.

While stress can be useful at times, it is important to manage it well. Inability to do so can lead to chronic anxiety and cause grave health issues. Managing stress can be hard and may take time, especially if it has become a part of you. Luckily, everything is possible. We have prepared 7 best ways for you to get rid of stress and boost your happiness.

7 Ways to Beat Stress and Boost Happiness

1. Exercise

Physical exercise is one of the best ways to alleviate stress and enhance your mood. It can also help you deal with other psychological issues such as depression and anxiety.

During physical exercises, our brains produce and release chemicals dopamine and serotonin at a faster rate than during inactivity. Thanks to them, happiness and good mood are encouraged. Also, physical activity increases the supply of endorphins. These chemicals are responsible for encouraging a satisfactory feeling.

Physical exercising has also been proven to lower stress hormones such as cortisol, which is responsible for slowing down our cognitive capabilities. Therefore, exercise also allows us to think more positive and without distractions.

Create a workout plan that consists of various exercises that you like.

Make sure that you exercise for at least 5 days a week.

Stick to aerobic (cardio) exercises and circuit workouts.

Include short morning exercises in your plan. Exercising as you wake up will increase your productivity for the whole day.

2. Maintain a Healthy Diet

Eating and drinking healthy is a key to a healthy body and mind, and ultimately your happiness. There are foods and drinks that you should try to avoid as much as possible, including:

Coffee and other drinks containing high levels of caffeine

Alcohol

Sugar

Processed foods, as they lack essential nutrients and are generally bad for your body

Salt

A proper diet is a must if you aim to combat stress in the long term. Make sure that your body receives sufficient amount of proteins, good fats, healthy carbs, minerals, and vitamins.

Speaking of minerals and vitamins, these are the most important for managing stress:

Vitamin C

B vitamins

Magnesium

Tip: If you are dealing with a stressful day, eat less but more often. This way, your metabolism will keep on working and your energy will be well distributed. Blood sugar will also be more stable and in return, stress will be managed easier.

3. Relax (It’s Easier Than You Think)

Excessive stress is often caused because of too much working or worrying. Try to reserve some time for yourself on a daily basis. Consider getting a spot where no one would bother you, such as your bedroom or spa, and relax.

Some of the best ways to unwind that many people prefer to include yoga and meditation. They both have positive effects on stress. To boost the effect, you can light up some scents. Aromatherapy, especially with lavender or peppermint essential oil, is also a good way to relieve stress.

You can also try breathing exercises that will provide you with immediate calming effects.

Sit down and position your palms on your thighs. Maintain a good posture and close your eyes.

Breathe in slowly through your nose for 5 seconds.

Hold the air for 7 seconds.

Proceed to exhale slowly through your mouth for another 5 seconds.

Don’t breathe for a few seconds and then repeat the process again.

Keep up with the breathing exercise for a few minutes or until you feel relaxed.

4. Talk About Your Problems

Talking about your problems can help you deal with them better. You may also learn more about the perspectives of other people and ideas on how they keep up with stress. Sometimes, however, it’s beneficial to just talk about anything. This can help you forget about the mess for awhile and relax.

Make sure that you surround yourself with positive people who are willing to listen and understand you. Avoid the company that makes you feel worse.

One modern idea of talking about problems suggests finding a total stranger who is willing to listen to you. Tell them everything, for the sake of getting it off your shoulders. In return, listen to him or her and help them confess their issues.

[RELATED: 3 Quick Ways to Destress When the Week is Too Much]

5. Take Control

The sooner you recognize that you are stressed, the sooner you can stop it from controlling your life. Denying stress doesn’t work in the long term. Consider keeping a diary and note down all of the stressful situations that you encounter.

After each month, review your diary and create a summary out of the stressful situations. Analyze the problems and potential solutions.  Proceed to act accordingly and get rid of the negative factors. If it is your work that’s giving you all the stress, it may be the right time to switch to a job that can make you happy. Remember that life is too short to allow stress to control it.

6. Get Enough Sleep

This one is quite simple. If you don’t sleep, you will be more prone to stress and negativity. Make sure that you get sufficient sleep during the night, and enough rest during the day.

If you are having troubles getting enough sleep, try going to bed earlier. It may be hard to fall asleep early at the beginning but once your body gets used to it, things will get easier. Consider listening to relaxing music, turn off all gadgets, and add a few drops of lavender oil to your diffuser.

7. Be Grateful

Be grateful for the life that has been given to you. It should not be taken for granted, regardless of one’s situation.

Be thankful for the positive actions of other people as well. Express this feeling by saying a simple “thank you” when so needed. Doing so will increase your happiness and get a whole new perspective on life.

Stress is a natural process that affects everyone in various different ways. While it has some beneficial properties, it can cause a lot of harm if not managed properly.

From relaxation techniques and resting to exercising and talking, these are some of the best ways to alleviate stress and boost your happiness. Remember to acknowledge stress immediately in order to start dealing with it effectively.

The post 7 Ways to Beat Stress and Boost Happiness appeared first on Classy Career Girl.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8265703 http://ift.tt/2AzxU8W via IFTTT

#IFTTT #RSSMix.com Mix ID 8265703

[shotbydalonewolf]

7 Ways to Beat Stress and Boost Happiness

Stress has become a part of our daily lives and can never be completely avoided. It is a normal reaction of both people and animals to various uncomfortable and difficult situations. As we feel tensed, our bodies release chemicals and hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. These substances keep our bodies alert and ready to face danger.

While stress can be useful at times, it is important to manage it well. Inability to do so can lead to chronic anxiety and cause grave health issues. Managing stress can be hard and may take time, especially if it has become a part of you. Luckily, everything is possible. We have prepared 7 best ways for you to get rid of stress and boost your happiness.

7 Ways to Beat Stress and Boost Happiness

1. Exercise

Physical exercise is one of the best ways to alleviate stress and enhance your mood. It can also help you deal with other psychological issues such as depression and anxiety.

During physical exercises, our brains produce and release chemicals dopamine and serotonin at a faster rate than during inactivity. Thanks to them, happiness and good mood are encouraged. Also, physical activity increases the supply of endorphins. These chemicals are responsible for encouraging a satisfactory feeling.

Physical exercising has also been proven to lower stress hormones such as cortisol, which is responsible for slowing down our cognitive capabilities. Therefore, exercise also allows us to think more positive and without distractions.

Create a workout plan that consists of various exercises that you like.

Make sure that you exercise for at least 5 days a week.

Stick to aerobic (cardio) exercises and circuit workouts.

Include short morning exercises in your plan. Exercising as you wake up will increase your productivity for the whole day.

2. Maintain a Healthy Diet

Eating and drinking healthy is a key to a healthy body and mind, and ultimately your happiness. There are foods and drinks that you should try to avoid as much as possible, including:

Coffee and other drinks containing high levels of caffeine

Alcohol

Sugar

Processed foods, as they lack essential nutrients and are generally bad for your body

Salt

A proper diet is a must if you aim to combat stress in the long term. Make sure that your body receives sufficient amount of proteins, good fats, healthy carbs, minerals, and vitamins.

Speaking of minerals and vitamins, these are the most important for managing stress:

Vitamin C

B vitamins

Magnesium

Tip: If you are dealing with a stressful day, eat less but more often. This way, your metabolism will keep on working and your energy will be well distributed. Blood sugar will also be more stable and in return, stress will be managed easier.

3. Relax (It’s Easier Than You Think)

Excessive stress is often caused because of too much working or worrying. Try to reserve some time for yourself on a daily basis. Consider getting a spot where no one would bother you, such as your bedroom or spa, and relax.

Some of the best ways to unwind that many people prefer to include yoga and meditation. They both have positive effects on stress. To boost the effect, you can light up some scents. Aromatherapy, especially with lavender or peppermint essential oil, is also a good way to relieve stress.

You can also try breathing exercises that will provide you with immediate calming effects.

Sit down and position your palms on your thighs. Maintain a good posture and close your eyes.

Breathe in slowly through your nose for 5 seconds.

Hold the air for 7 seconds.

Proceed to exhale slowly through your mouth for another 5 seconds.

Don’t breathe for a few seconds and then repeat the process again.

Keep up with the breathing exercise for a few minutes or until you feel relaxed.

4. Talk About Your Problems

Talking about your problems can help you deal with them better. You may also learn more about the perspectives of other people and ideas on how they keep up with stress. Sometimes, however, it’s beneficial to just talk about anything. This can help you forget about the mess for awhile and relax.

Make sure that you surround yourself with positive people who are willing to listen and understand you. Avoid the company that makes you feel worse.

One modern idea of talking about problems suggests finding a total stranger who is willing to listen to you. Tell them everything, for the sake of getting it off your shoulders. In return, listen to him or her and help them confess their issues.

[RELATED: 3 Quick Ways to Destress When the Week is Too Much]

5. Take Control

The sooner you recognize that you are stressed, the sooner you can stop it from controlling your life. Denying stress doesn’t work in the long term. Consider keeping a diary and note down all of the stressful situations that you encounter.

After each month, review your diary and create a summary out of the stressful situations. Analyze the problems and potential solutions.  Proceed to act accordingly and get rid of the negative factors. If it is your work that’s giving you all the stress, it may be the right time to switch to a job that can make you happy. Remember that life is too short to allow stress to control it.

6. Get Enough Sleep

This one is quite simple. If you don’t sleep, you will be more prone to stress and negativity. Make sure that you get sufficient sleep during the night, and enough rest during the day.

If you are having troubles getting enough sleep, try going to bed earlier. It may be hard to fall asleep early at the beginning but once your body gets used to it, things will get easier. Consider listening to relaxing music, turn off all gadgets, and add a few drops of lavender oil to your diffuser.

7. Be Grateful

Be grateful for the life that has been given to you. It should not be taken for granted, regardless of one’s situation.

Be thankful for the positive actions of other people as well. Express this feeling by saying a simple “thank you” when so needed. Doing so will increase your happiness and get a whole new perspective on life.

Stress is a natural process that affects everyone in various different ways. While it has some beneficial properties, it can cause a lot of harm if not managed properly.

From relaxation techniques and resting to exercising and talking, these are some of the best ways to alleviate stress and boost your happiness. Remember to acknowledge stress immediately in order to start dealing with it effectively.

The post 7 Ways to Beat Stress and Boost Happiness appeared first on Classy Career Girl.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8265703 http://ift.tt/2AzxU8W via IFTTT

#IFTTT #RSSMix.com Mix ID 8265703

[s-kinnyheaven]

7 Ways to Beat Stress and Boost Happiness

Stress has become a part of our daily lives and can never be completely avoided. It is a normal reaction of both people and animals to various uncomfortable and difficult situations. As we feel tensed, our bodies release chemicals and hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. These substances keep our bodies alert and ready to face danger.

While stress can be useful at times, it is important to manage it well. Inability to do so can lead to chronic anxiety and cause grave health issues. Managing stress can be hard and may take time, especially if it has become a part of you. Luckily, everything is possible. We have prepared 7 best ways for you to get rid of stress and boost your happiness.

7 Ways to Beat Stress and Boost Happiness

1. Exercise

Physical exercise is one of the best ways to alleviate stress and enhance your mood. It can also help you deal with other psychological issues such as depression and anxiety.

During physical exercises, our brains produce and release chemicals dopamine and serotonin at a faster rate than during inactivity. Thanks to them, happiness and good mood are encouraged. Also, physical activity increases the supply of endorphins. These chemicals are responsible for encouraging a satisfactory feeling.

Physical exercising has also been proven to lower stress hormones such as cortisol, which is responsible for slowing down our cognitive capabilities. Therefore, exercise also allows us to think more positive and without distractions.

Create a workout plan that consists of various exercises that you like.

Make sure that you exercise for at least 5 days a week.

Stick to aerobic (cardio) exercises and circuit workouts.

Include short morning exercises in your plan. Exercising as you wake up will increase your productivity for the whole day.

2. Maintain a Healthy Diet

Eating and drinking healthy is a key to a healthy body and mind, and ultimately your happiness. There are foods and drinks that you should try to avoid as much as possible, including:

Coffee and other drinks containing high levels of caffeine

Alcohol

Sugar

Processed foods, as they lack essential nutrients and are generally bad for your body

Salt

A proper diet is a must if you aim to combat stress in the long term. Make sure that your body receives sufficient amount of proteins, good fats, healthy carbs, minerals, and vitamins.

Speaking of minerals and vitamins, these are the most important for managing stress:

Vitamin C

B vitamins

Magnesium

Tip: If you are dealing with a stressful day, eat less but more often. This way, your metabolism will keep on working and your energy will be well distributed. Blood sugar will also be more stable and in return, stress will be managed easier.

3. Relax (It’s Easier Than You Think)

Excessive stress is often caused because of too much working or worrying. Try to reserve some time for yourself on a daily basis. Consider getting a spot where no one would bother you, such as your bedroom or spa, and relax.

Some of the best ways to unwind that many people prefer to include yoga and meditation. They both have positive effects on stress. To boost the effect, you can light up some scents. Aromatherapy, especially with lavender or peppermint essential oil, is also a good way to relieve stress.

You can also try breathing exercises that will provide you with immediate calming effects.

Sit down and position your palms on your thighs. Maintain a good posture and close your eyes.

Breathe in slowly through your nose for 5 seconds.

Hold the air for 7 seconds.

Proceed to exhale slowly through your mouth for another 5 seconds.

Don’t breathe for a few seconds and then repeat the process again.

Keep up with the breathing exercise for a few minutes or until you feel relaxed.

4. Talk About Your Problems

Talking about your problems can help you deal with them better. You may also learn more about the perspectives of other people and ideas on how they keep up with stress. Sometimes, however, it’s beneficial to just talk about anything. This can help you forget about the mess for awhile and relax.

Make sure that you surround yourself with positive people who are willing to listen and understand you. Avoid the company that makes you feel worse.

One modern idea of talking about problems suggests finding a total stranger who is willing to listen to you. Tell them everything, for the sake of getting it off your shoulders. In return, listen to him or her and help them confess their issues.

[RELATED: 3 Quick Ways to Destress When the Week is Too Much]

5. Take Control

The sooner you recognize that you are stressed, the sooner you can stop it from controlling your life. Denying stress doesn’t work in the long term. Consider keeping a diary and note down all of the stressful situations that you encounter.

After each month, review your diary and create a summary out of the stressful situations. Analyze the problems and potential solutions.  Proceed to act accordingly and get rid of the negative factors. If it is your work that’s giving you all the stress, it may be the right time to switch to a job that can make you happy. Remember that life is too short to allow stress to control it.

6. Get Enough Sleep

This one is quite simple. If you don’t sleep, you will be more prone to stress and negativity. Make sure that you get sufficient sleep during the night, and enough rest during the day.

If you are having troubles getting enough sleep, try going to bed earlier. It may be hard to fall asleep early at the beginning but once your body gets used to it, things will get easier. Consider listening to relaxing music, turn off all gadgets, and add a few drops of lavender oil to your diffuser.

7. Be Grateful

Be grateful for the life that has been given to you. It should not be taken for granted, regardless of one’s situation.

Be thankful for the positive actions of other people as well. Express this feeling by saying a simple “thank you” when so needed. Doing so will increase your happiness and get a whole new perspective on life.

Stress is a natural process that affects everyone in various different ways. While it has some beneficial properties, it can cause a lot of harm if not managed properly.

From relaxation techniques and resting to exercising and talking, these are some of the best ways to alleviate stress and boost your happiness. Remember to acknowledge stress immediately in order to start dealing with it effectively.

The post 7 Ways to Beat Stress and Boost Happiness appeared first on Classy Career Girl.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8265703 http://ift.tt/2AzxU8W via IFTTT

#IFTTT #RSSMix.com Mix ID 8265703

[shmow-zows]

7 Ways to Beat Stress and Boost Happiness

Stress has become a part of our daily lives and can never be completely avoided. It is a normal reaction of both people and animals to various uncomfortable and difficult situations. As we feel tensed, our bodies release chemicals and hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. These substances keep our bodies alert and ready to face danger.

While stress can be useful at times, it is important to manage it well. Inability to do so can lead to chronic anxiety and cause grave health issues. Managing stress can be hard and may take time, especially if it has become a part of you. Luckily, everything is possible. We have prepared 7 best ways for you to get rid of stress and boost your happiness.

7 Ways to Beat Stress and Boost Happiness

1. Exercise

Physical exercise is one of the best ways to alleviate stress and enhance your mood. It can also help you deal with other psychological issues such as depression and anxiety.

During physical exercises, our brains produce and release chemicals dopamine and serotonin at a faster rate than during inactivity. Thanks to them, happiness and good mood are encouraged. Also, physical activity increases the supply of endorphins. These chemicals are responsible for encouraging a satisfactory feeling.

Physical exercising has also been proven to lower stress hormones such as cortisol, which is responsible for slowing down our cognitive capabilities. Therefore, exercise also allows us to think more positive and without distractions.

Create a workout plan that consists of various exercises that you like.

Make sure that you exercise for at least 5 days a week.

Stick to aerobic (cardio) exercises and circuit workouts.

Include short morning exercises in your plan. Exercising as you wake up will increase your productivity for the whole day.

2. Maintain a Healthy Diet

Eating and drinking healthy is a key to a healthy body and mind, and ultimately your happiness. There are foods and drinks that you should try to avoid as much as possible, including:

Coffee and other drinks containing high levels of caffeine

Alcohol

Sugar

Processed foods, as they lack essential nutrients and are generally bad for your body

Salt

A proper diet is a must if you aim to combat stress in the long term. Make sure that your body receives sufficient amount of proteins, good fats, healthy carbs, minerals, and vitamins.

Speaking of minerals and vitamins, these are the most important for managing stress:

Vitamin C

B vitamins

Magnesium

Tip: If you are dealing with a stressful day, eat less but more often. This way, your metabolism will keep on working and your energy will be well distributed. Blood sugar will also be more stable and in return, stress will be managed easier.

3. Relax (It’s Easier Than You Think)

Excessive stress is often caused because of too much working or worrying. Try to reserve some time for yourself on a daily basis. Consider getting a spot where no one would bother you, such as your bedroom or spa, and relax.

Some of the best ways to unwind that many people prefer to include yoga and meditation. They both have positive effects on stress. To boost the effect, you can light up some scents. Aromatherapy, especially with lavender or peppermint essential oil, is also a good way to relieve stress.

You can also try breathing exercises that will provide you with immediate calming effects.

Sit down and position your palms on your thighs. Maintain a good posture and close your eyes.

Breathe in slowly through your nose for 5 seconds.

Hold the air for 7 seconds.

Proceed to exhale slowly through your mouth for another 5 seconds.

Don’t breathe for a few seconds and then repeat the process again.

Keep up with the breathing exercise for a few minutes or until you feel relaxed.

4. Talk About Your Problems

Talking about your problems can help you deal with them better. You may also learn more about the perspectives of other people and ideas on how they keep up with stress. Sometimes, however, it’s beneficial to just talk about anything. This can help you forget about the mess for awhile and relax.

Make sure that you surround yourself with positive people who are willing to listen and understand you. Avoid the company that makes you feel worse.

One modern idea of talking about problems suggests finding a total stranger who is willing to listen to you. Tell them everything, for the sake of getting it off your shoulders. In return, listen to him or her and help them confess their issues.

[RELATED: 3 Quick Ways to Destress When the Week is Too Much]

5. Take Control

The sooner you recognize that you are stressed, the sooner you can stop it from controlling your life. Denying stress doesn’t work in the long term. Consider keeping a diary and note down all of the stressful situations that you encounter.

After each month, review your diary and create a summary out of the stressful situations. Analyze the problems and potential solutions.  Proceed to act accordingly and get rid of the negative factors. If it is your work that’s giving you all the stress, it may be the right time to switch to a job that can make you happy. Remember that life is too short to allow stress to control it.

6. Get Enough Sleep

This one is quite simple. If you don’t sleep, you will be more prone to stress and negativity. Make sure that you get sufficient sleep during the night, and enough rest during the day.

If you are having troubles getting enough sleep, try going to bed earlier. It may be hard to fall asleep early at the beginning but once your body gets used to it, things will get easier. Consider listening to relaxing music, turn off all gadgets, and add a few drops of lavender oil to your diffuser.

7. Be Grateful

Be grateful for the life that has been given to you. It should not be taken for granted, regardless of one’s situation.

Be thankful for the positive actions of other people as well. Express this feeling by saying a simple “thank you” when so needed. Doing so will increase your happiness and get a whole new perspective on life.

Stress is a natural process that affects everyone in various different ways. While it has some beneficial properties, it can cause a lot of harm if not managed properly.

From relaxation techniques and resting to exercising and talking, these are some of the best ways to alleviate stress and boost your happiness. Remember to acknowledge stress immediately in order to start dealing with it effectively.

The post 7 Ways to Beat Stress and Boost Happiness appeared first on Classy Career Girl.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8265703 http://ift.tt/2AzxU8W via IFTTT

#IFTTT #RSSMix.com Mix ID 8265703

[trashbagtricks]

7 Ways to Beat Stress and Boost Happiness

Stress has become a part of our daily lives and can never be completely avoided. It is a normal reaction of both people and animals to various uncomfortable and difficult situations. As we feel tensed, our bodies release chemicals and hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. These substances keep our bodies alert and ready to face danger.

While stress can be useful at times, it is important to manage it well. Inability to do so can lead to chronic anxiety and cause grave health issues. Managing stress can be hard and may take time, especially if it has become a part of you. Luckily, everything is possible. We have prepared 7 best ways for you to get rid of stress and boost your happiness.

7 Ways to Beat Stress and Boost Happiness

1. Exercise

Physical exercise is one of the best ways to alleviate stress and enhance your mood. It can also help you deal with other psychological issues such as depression and anxiety.

During physical exercises, our brains produce and release chemicals dopamine and serotonin at a faster rate than during inactivity. Thanks to them, happiness and good mood are encouraged. Also, physical activity increases the supply of endorphins. These chemicals are responsible for encouraging a satisfactory feeling.

Physical exercising has also been proven to lower stress hormones such as cortisol, which is responsible for slowing down our cognitive capabilities. Therefore, exercise also allows us to think more positive and without distractions.

Create a workout plan that consists of various exercises that you like.

Make sure that you exercise for at least 5 days a week.

Stick to aerobic (cardio) exercises and circuit workouts.

Include short morning exercises in your plan. Exercising as you wake up will increase your productivity for the whole day.

2. Maintain a Healthy Diet

Eating and drinking healthy is a key to a healthy body and mind, and ultimately your happiness. There are foods and drinks that you should try to avoid as much as possible, including:

Coffee and other drinks containing high levels of caffeine

Alcohol

Sugar

Processed foods, as they lack essential nutrients and are generally bad for your body

Salt

A proper diet is a must if you aim to combat stress in the long term. Make sure that your body receives sufficient amount of proteins, good fats, healthy carbs, minerals, and vitamins.

Speaking of minerals and vitamins, these are the most important for managing stress:

Vitamin C

B vitamins

Magnesium

Tip: If you are dealing with a stressful day, eat less but more often. This way, your metabolism will keep on working and your energy will be well distributed. Blood sugar will also be more stable and in return, stress will be managed easier.

3. Relax (It’s Easier Than You Think)

Excessive stress is often caused because of too much working or worrying. Try to reserve some time for yourself on a daily basis. Consider getting a spot where no one would bother you, such as your bedroom or spa, and relax.

Some of the best ways to unwind that many people prefer to include yoga and meditation. They both have positive effects on stress. To boost the effect, you can light up some scents. Aromatherapy, especially with lavender or peppermint essential oil, is also a good way to relieve stress.

You can also try breathing exercises that will provide you with immediate calming effects.

Sit down and position your palms on your thighs. Maintain a good posture and close your eyes.

Breathe in slowly through your nose for 5 seconds.

Hold the air for 7 seconds.

Proceed to exhale slowly through your mouth for another 5 seconds.

Don’t breathe for a few seconds and then repeat the process again.

Keep up with the breathing exercise for a few minutes or until you feel relaxed.

4. Talk About Your Problems

Talking about your problems can help you deal with them better. You may also learn more about the perspectives of other people and ideas on how they keep up with stress. Sometimes, however, it’s beneficial to just talk about anything. This can help you forget about the mess for awhile and relax.

Make sure that you surround yourself with positive people who are willing to listen and understand you. Avoid the company that makes you feel worse.

One modern idea of talking about problems suggests finding a total stranger who is willing to listen to you. Tell them everything, for the sake of getting it off your shoulders. In return, listen to him or her and help them confess their issues.

[RELATED: 3 Quick Ways to Destress When the Week is Too Much]

5. Take Control

The sooner you recognize that you are stressed, the sooner you can stop it from controlling your life. Denying stress doesn’t work in the long term. Consider keeping a diary and note down all of the stressful situations that you encounter.

After each month, review your diary and create a summary out of the stressful situations. Analyze the problems and potential solutions.  Proceed to act accordingly and get rid of the negative factors. If it is your work that’s giving you all the stress, it may be the right time to switch to a job that can make you happy. Remember that life is too short to allow stress to control it.

6. Get Enough Sleep

This one is quite simple. If you don’t sleep, you will be more prone to stress and negativity. Make sure that you get sufficient sleep during the night, and enough rest during the day.

If you are having troubles getting enough sleep, try going to bed earlier. It may be hard to fall asleep early at the beginning but once your body gets used to it, things will get easier. Consider listening to relaxing music, turn off all gadgets, and add a few drops of lavender oil to your diffuser.

7. Be Grateful

Be grateful for the life that has been given to you. It should not be taken for granted, regardless of one’s situation.

Be thankful for the positive actions of other people as well. Express this feeling by saying a simple “thank you” when so needed. Doing so will increase your happiness and get a whole new perspective on life.

Stress is a natural process that affects everyone in various different ways. While it has some beneficial properties, it can cause a lot of harm if not managed properly.

From relaxation techniques and resting to exercising and talking, these are some of the best ways to alleviate stress and boost your happiness. Remember to acknowledge stress immediately in order to start dealing with it effectively.

The post 7 Ways to Beat Stress and Boost Happiness appeared first on Classy Career Girl.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8265703 http://ift.tt/2AzxU8W via IFTTT

#IFTTT #RSSMix.com Mix ID 8265703

[wanderingfound]

7 Ways to Beat Stress and Boost Happiness

Stress has become a part of our daily lives and can never be completely avoided. It is a normal reaction of both people and animals to various uncomfortable and difficult situations. As we feel tensed, our bodies release chemicals and hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. These substances keep our bodies alert and ready to face danger.

While stress can be useful at times, it is important to manage it well. Inability to do so can lead to chronic anxiety and cause grave health issues. Managing stress can be hard and may take time, especially if it has become a part of you. Luckily, everything is possible. We have prepared 7 best ways for you to get rid of stress and boost your happiness.

7 Ways to Beat Stress and Boost Happiness

1. Exercise

Physical exercise is one of the best ways to alleviate stress and enhance your mood. It can also help you deal with other psychological issues such as depression and anxiety.

During physical exercises, our brains produce and release chemicals dopamine and serotonin at a faster rate than during inactivity. Thanks to them, happiness and good mood are encouraged. Also, physical activity increases the supply of endorphins. These chemicals are responsible for encouraging a satisfactory feeling.

Physical exercising has also been proven to lower stress hormones such as cortisol, which is responsible for slowing down our cognitive capabilities. Therefore, exercise also allows us to think more positive and without distractions.

Create a workout plan that consists of various exercises that you like.

Make sure that you exercise for at least 5 days a week.

Stick to aerobic (cardio) exercises and circuit workouts.

Include short morning exercises in your plan. Exercising as you wake up will increase your productivity for the whole day.

2. Maintain a Healthy Diet

Eating and drinking healthy is a key to a healthy body and mind, and ultimately your happiness. There are foods and drinks that you should try to avoid as much as possible, including:

Coffee and other drinks containing high levels of caffeine

Alcohol

Sugar

Processed foods, as they lack essential nutrients and are generally bad for your body

Salt

A proper diet is a must if you aim to combat stress in the long term. Make sure that your body receives sufficient amount of proteins, good fats, healthy carbs, minerals, and vitamins.

Speaking of minerals and vitamins, these are the most important for managing stress:

Vitamin C

B vitamins

Magnesium

Tip: If you are dealing with a stressful day, eat less but more often. This way, your metabolism will keep on working and your energy will be well distributed. Blood sugar will also be more stable and in return, stress will be managed easier.

3. Relax (It’s Easier Than You Think)

Excessive stress is often caused because of too much working or worrying. Try to reserve some time for yourself on a daily basis. Consider getting a spot where no one would bother you, such as your bedroom or spa, and relax.

Some of the best ways to unwind that many people prefer to include yoga and meditation. They both have positive effects on stress. To boost the effect, you can light up some scents. Aromatherapy, especially with lavender or peppermint essential oil, is also a good way to relieve stress.

You can also try breathing exercises that will provide you with immediate calming effects.

Sit down and position your palms on your thighs. Maintain a good posture and close your eyes.

Breathe in slowly through your nose for 5 seconds.

Hold the air for 7 seconds.

Proceed to exhale slowly through your mouth for another 5 seconds.

Don’t breathe for a few seconds and then repeat the process again.

Keep up with the breathing exercise for a few minutes or until you feel relaxed.

4. Talk About Your Problems

Talking about your problems can help you deal with them better. You may also learn more about the perspectives of other people and ideas on how they keep up with stress. Sometimes, however, it’s beneficial to just talk about anything. This can help you forget about the mess for awhile and relax.

Make sure that you surround yourself with positive people who are willing to listen and understand you. Avoid the company that makes you feel worse.

One modern idea of talking about problems suggests finding a total stranger who is willing to listen to you. Tell them everything, for the sake of getting it off your shoulders. In return, listen to him or her and help them confess their issues.

[RELATED: 3 Quick Ways to Destress When the Week is Too Much]

5. Take Control

The sooner you recognize that you are stressed, the sooner you can stop it from controlling your life. Denying stress doesn’t work in the long term. Consider keeping a diary and note down all of the stressful situations that you encounter.

After each month, review your diary and create a summary out of the stressful situations. Analyze the problems and potential solutions.  Proceed to act accordingly and get rid of the negative factors. If it is your work that’s giving you all the stress, it may be the right time to switch to a job that can make you happy. Remember that life is too short to allow stress to control it.

6. Get Enough Sleep

This one is quite simple. If you don’t sleep, you will be more prone to stress and negativity. Make sure that you get sufficient sleep during the night, and enough rest during the day.

If you are having troubles getting enough sleep, try going to bed earlier. It may be hard to fall asleep early at the beginning but once your body gets used to it, things will get easier. Consider listening to relaxing music, turn off all gadgets, and add a few drops of lavender oil to your diffuser.

7. Be Grateful

Be grateful for the life that has been given to you. It should not be taken for granted, regardless of one’s situation.

Be thankful for the positive actions of other people as well. Express this feeling by saying a simple “thank you” when so needed. Doing so will increase your happiness and get a whole new perspective on life.

Stress is a natural process that affects everyone in various different ways. While it has some beneficial properties, it can cause a lot of harm if not managed properly.

From relaxation techniques and resting to exercising and talking, these are some of the best ways to alleviate stress and boost your happiness. Remember to acknowledge stress immediately in order to start dealing with it effectively.

The post 7 Ways to Beat Stress and Boost Happiness appeared first on Classy Career Girl.

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7 Ways to Beat Stress and Boost Happiness

Stress has become a part of our daily lives and can never be completely avoided. It is a normal reaction of both people and animals to various uncomfortable and difficult situations. As we feel tensed, our bodies release chemicals and hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. These substances keep our bodies alert and ready to face danger.

While stress can be useful at times, it is important to manage it well. Inability to do so can lead to chronic anxiety and cause grave health issues. Managing stress can be hard and may take time, especially if it has become a part of you. Luckily, everything is possible. We have prepared 7 best ways for you to get rid of stress and boost your happiness.

7 Ways to Beat Stress and Boost Happiness

1. Exercise

Physical exercise is one of the best ways to alleviate stress and enhance your mood. It can also help you deal with other psychological issues such as depression and anxiety.

During physical exercises, our brains produce and release chemicals dopamine and serotonin at a faster rate than during inactivity. Thanks to them, happiness and good mood are encouraged. Also, physical activity increases the supply of endorphins. These chemicals are responsible for encouraging a satisfactory feeling.

Physical exercising has also been proven to lower stress hormones such as cortisol, which is responsible for slowing down our cognitive capabilities. Therefore, exercise also allows us to think more positive and without distractions.

Create a workout plan that consists of various exercises that you like.

Make sure that you exercise for at least 5 days a week.

Stick to aerobic (cardio) exercises and circuit workouts.

Include short morning exercises in your plan. Exercising as you wake up will increase your productivity for the whole day.

2. Maintain a Healthy Diet

Eating and drinking healthy is a key to a healthy body and mind, and ultimately your happiness. There are foods and drinks that you should try to avoid as much as possible, including:

Coffee and other drinks containing high levels of caffeine

Alcohol

Sugar

Processed foods, as they lack essential nutrients and are generally bad for your body

Salt

A proper diet is a must if you aim to combat stress in the long term. Make sure that your body receives sufficient amount of proteins, good fats, healthy carbs, minerals, and vitamins.

Speaking of minerals and vitamins, these are the most important for managing stress:

Vitamin C

B vitamins

Magnesium

Tip: If you are dealing with a stressful day, eat less but more often. This way, your metabolism will keep on working and your energy will be well distributed. Blood sugar will also be more stable and in return, stress will be managed easier.

3. Relax (It’s Easier Than You Think)

Excessive stress is often caused because of too much working or worrying. Try to reserve some time for yourself on a daily basis. Consider getting a spot where no one would bother you, such as your bedroom or spa, and relax.

Some of the best ways to unwind that many people prefer to include yoga and meditation. They both have positive effects on stress. To boost the effect, you can light up some scents. Aromatherapy, especially with lavender or peppermint essential oil, is also a good way to relieve stress.

You can also try breathing exercises that will provide you with immediate calming effects.

Sit down and position your palms on your thighs. Maintain a good posture and close your eyes.

Breathe in slowly through your nose for 5 seconds.

Hold the air for 7 seconds.

Proceed to exhale slowly through your mouth for another 5 seconds.

Don’t breathe for a few seconds and then repeat the process again.

Keep up with the breathing exercise for a few minutes or until you feel relaxed.

4. Talk About Your Problems

Talking about your problems can help you deal with them better. You may also learn more about the perspectives of other people and ideas on how they keep up with stress. Sometimes, however, it’s beneficial to just talk about anything. This can help you forget about the mess for awhile and relax.

Make sure that you surround yourself with positive people who are willing to listen and understand you. Avoid the company that makes you feel worse.

One modern idea of talking about problems suggests finding a total stranger who is willing to listen to you. Tell them everything, for the sake of getting it off your shoulders. In return, listen to him or her and help them confess their issues.

[RELATED: 3 Quick Ways to Destress When the Week is Too Much]

5. Take Control

The sooner you recognize that you are stressed, the sooner you can stop it from controlling your life. Denying stress doesn’t work in the long term. Consider keeping a diary and note down all of the stressful situations that you encounter.

After each month, review your diary and create a summary out of the stressful situations. Analyze the problems and potential solutions.  Proceed to act accordingly and get rid of the negative factors. If it is your work that’s giving you all the stress, it may be the right time to switch to a job that can make you happy. Remember that life is too short to allow stress to control it.

6. Get Enough Sleep

This one is quite simple. If you don’t sleep, you will be more prone to stress and negativity. Make sure that you get sufficient sleep during the night, and enough rest during the day.

If you are having troubles getting enough sleep, try going to bed earlier. It may be hard to fall asleep early at the beginning but once your body gets used to it, things will get easier. Consider listening to relaxing music, turn off all gadgets, and add a few drops of lavender oil to your diffuser.

7. Be Grateful

Be grateful for the life that has been given to you. It should not be taken for granted, regardless of one’s situation.

Be thankful for the positive actions of other people as well. Express this feeling by saying a simple “thank you” when so needed. Doing so will increase your happiness and get a whole new perspective on life.

Stress is a natural process that affects everyone in various different ways. While it has some beneficial properties, it can cause a lot of harm if not managed properly.

From relaxation techniques and resting to exercising and talking, these are some of the best ways to alleviate stress and boost your happiness. Remember to acknowledge stress immediately in order to start dealing with it effectively.

The post 7 Ways to Beat Stress and Boost Happiness appeared first on Classy Career Girl.

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7 Ways to Beat Stress and Boost Happiness

Stress has become a part of our daily lives and can never be completely avoided. It is a normal reaction of both people and animals to various uncomfortable and difficult situations. As we feel tensed, our bodies release chemicals and hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. These substances keep our bodies alert and ready to face danger.

While stress can be useful at times, it is important to manage it well. Inability to do so can lead to chronic anxiety and cause grave health issues. Managing stress can be hard and may take time, especially if it has become a part of you. Luckily, everything is possible. We have prepared 7 best ways for you to get rid of stress and boost your happiness.

7 Ways to Beat Stress and Boost Happiness

1. Exercise

Physical exercise is one of the best ways to alleviate stress and enhance your mood. It can also help you deal with other psychological issues such as depression and anxiety.

During physical exercises, our brains produce and release chemicals dopamine and serotonin at a faster rate than during inactivity. Thanks to them, happiness and good mood are encouraged. Also, physical activity increases the supply of endorphins. These chemicals are responsible for encouraging a satisfactory feeling.

Physical exercising has also been proven to lower stress hormones such as cortisol, which is responsible for slowing down our cognitive capabilities. Therefore, exercise also allows us to think more positive and without distractions.

Create a workout plan that consists of various exercises that you like.

Make sure that you exercise for at least 5 days a week.

Stick to aerobic (cardio) exercises and circuit workouts.

Include short morning exercises in your plan. Exercising as you wake up will increase your productivity for the whole day.

2. Maintain a Healthy Diet

Eating and drinking healthy is a key to a healthy body and mind, and ultimately your happiness. There are foods and drinks that you should try to avoid as much as possible, including:

Coffee and other drinks containing high levels of caffeine

Alcohol

Sugar

Processed foods, as they lack essential nutrients and are generally bad for your body

Salt

A proper diet is a must if you aim to combat stress in the long term. Make sure that your body receives sufficient amount of proteins, good fats, healthy carbs, minerals, and vitamins.

Speaking of minerals and vitamins, these are the most important for managing stress:

Vitamin C

B vitamins

Magnesium

Tip: If you are dealing with a stressful day, eat less but more often. This way, your metabolism will keep on working and your energy will be well distributed. Blood sugar will also be more stable and in return, stress will be managed easier.

3. Relax (It’s Easier Than You Think)

Excessive stress is often caused because of too much working or worrying. Try to reserve some time for yourself on a daily basis. Consider getting a spot where no one would bother you, such as your bedroom or spa, and relax.

Some of the best ways to unwind that many people prefer to include yoga and meditation. They both have positive effects on stress. To boost the effect, you can light up some scents. Aromatherapy, especially with lavender or peppermint essential oil, is also a good way to relieve stress.

You can also try breathing exercises that will provide you with immediate calming effects.

Sit down and position your palms on your thighs. Maintain a good posture and close your eyes.

Breathe in slowly through your nose for 5 seconds.

Hold the air for 7 seconds.

Proceed to exhale slowly through your mouth for another 5 seconds.

Don’t breathe for a few seconds and then repeat the process again.

Keep up with the breathing exercise for a few minutes or until you feel relaxed.

4. Talk About Your Problems

Talking about your problems can help you deal with them better. You may also learn more about the perspectives of other people and ideas on how they keep up with stress. Sometimes, however, it’s beneficial to just talk about anything. This can help you forget about the mess for awhile and relax.

Make sure that you surround yourself with positive people who are willing to listen and understand you. Avoid the company that makes you feel worse.

One modern idea of talking about problems suggests finding a total stranger who is willing to listen to you. Tell them everything, for the sake of getting it off your shoulders. In return, listen to him or her and help them confess their issues.

[RELATED: 3 Quick Ways to Destress When the Week is Too Much]

5. Take Control

The sooner you recognize that you are stressed, the sooner you can stop it from controlling your life. Denying stress doesn’t work in the long term. Consider keeping a diary and note down all of the stressful situations that you encounter.

After each month, review your diary and create a summary out of the stressful situations. Analyze the problems and potential solutions.  Proceed to act accordingly and get rid of the negative factors. If it is your work that’s giving you all the stress, it may be the right time to switch to a job that can make you happy. Remember that life is too short to allow stress to control it.

6. Get Enough Sleep

This one is quite simple. If you don’t sleep, you will be more prone to stress and negativity. Make sure that you get sufficient sleep during the night, and enough rest during the day.

If you are having troubles getting enough sleep, try going to bed earlier. It may be hard to fall asleep early at the beginning but once your body gets used to it, things will get easier. Consider listening to relaxing music, turn off all gadgets, and add a few drops of lavender oil to your diffuser.

7. Be Grateful

Be grateful for the life that has been given to you. It should not be taken for granted, regardless of one’s situation.

Be thankful for the positive actions of other people as well. Express this feeling by saying a simple “thank you” when so needed. Doing so will increase your happiness and get a whole new perspective on life.

Stress is a natural process that affects everyone in various different ways. While it has some beneficial properties, it can cause a lot of harm if not managed properly.

From relaxation techniques and resting to exercising and talking, these are some of the best ways to alleviate stress and boost your happiness. Remember to acknowledge stress immediately in order to start dealing with it effectively.

The post 7 Ways to Beat Stress and Boost Happiness appeared first on Classy Career Girl.

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